Victor F: Reanimator
by JaniceGhostHunter
Summary: A MUCH darker follow up to "Frankenweenie". The story follows Victor, who recently made friends with Edgar. After a tragic loss, Victor must face the harsh realities of what bringing the dead back can really mean. Sometimes, dead is better. This story will utilize violence, intense gore, and strong language. Viewer discretion is advised for later chapters. RATED MA. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. After the Incident

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter One:

After the "Incident"

The couple of days after what everyone in New Holland called "The Incident" weren't especially exciting ones. Victor, a young spindly lad who, preceding the "Incident" had triumphantly resurrected his dog from the dead after a tragic traffic accident spent his days just trying to escape the curious onslaught of endless questions from the children at school. Keeping his eyes focused at the floor most of the time, he tried to escape the ceaseless inquiring of the students who were not immediately involved with what happened.

"Hey, is it true that Mr. Whiskers blew up?" pestered one.

"Was the giant turtle really Gamera?!" shrieked one more.

"Tortoise!" corrected another.

As Victor came upon his seat in his class, he noted that some of the more familiar faces he got to know were still missing. An Asian boy who favored pen protectors by the name of Toshiaki had been kept home for a few days after that dreadful night. The only presumption was that he was still feeling bad about the loss of a certain cold blooded companion taken from him a few days earlier. He had been found silent and still that night coddling the remains of a turtle that was called something that Victor heard escape his pouting lips to the tone of "Sherrey". Another boy, Nassor, who was a large lurching youth with deep set eyes and jet black hair, had the misfortune of being trapped within a prop for the New Holland town fair for an extended period of time. The prop had been giant Matryoshka doll that had been converted into a shelf unit for the fair, but had proven to be a near tomb for the boy. This iron maiden of a doll held Nassor ensnared within it for three days before he was found by those cleaning up after all the excitement. Anyone would guess that he was recovering from the very serious case of dehydration and sensory deprivation he was suffering from. It was also rumored he had been melancholy as Toshiaki was, also mourning the loss of a beloved pet lost in the same frame of time. The last of the absent, a girl who only was known as "Weird Girl", who had an appearance to match her title, was known to have been sent to speak to a guidance counselor. Her pet cat, Mr. Whiskers, was a well known casualty of "The Incident". The poor feline met with a strange and violent end those few nights ago and only was spoken about in hushed tones by those who knew what happened. Either way, those missing where known to have met ill fate and needed to time to recover.

As Victor scanned the room, a couple of faces he did see were comforting, for the most part. A morbidly obese child with rosy cheeks and reddish hair sat happily at his desk nursing a candy bar. This boy was named Bob and though his best friend, Toshiaki, was still absent, he held an oblivious air about him. A girl whom Victor got to know quite well recently beamed at him from her desk. This female, Elsa Van Helsing, a pretty little thing who favored more expressive types of clothing had been the victim of the late Mr. Whiskers, and though she held a few healing scratches from the animal about her face, was in good spirits this morning. The last of the familiar faces Victor was looking for was one he was most upset at. Edgar, who held his seat right next to Victor's, was present but still looking down at his desk in a state of nervous shame. This evasive ritual had been going on for a few days now. Victor had had a very heated exchange of words with this peer that fated night for had it not been for him the whole terrible set of events would never have happened. Edgar, who's grotesquely misshapen body only added to his pathetic stance, kept his eyes down intensely focused on his desk. Only a few occasional darting gazes that met Victor's eyes interrupted this intense focus. Panicked, Edgar tried desperately to avert his eyes somewhere else immediately. Victor made a mental note to speak with Edgar again soon about this to hopefully rectify this behavior. It was making him intensely uncomfortable now where before he had felt triumphant about it.

Finally, after the bothersome hours passed listening to the irritating voice of a gym teacher trying to teach science, school had led out. Victor was quick to pack up and made a mad dash for the door after the deformed shape of Edgar. Edgar was very quick to make an escape, and though his crooked legs looked as though they would of hindrance to their owner, they proved to be quick and nimble. By the time Victor had caught sight of the youngster, there was a great bit of distance between them and a straight away would mean Victor must be far quicker than Edgar to catch him. Victor's legs proved trustworthy and even though Edgar had ducked into an alley way to evade his pursuer, he was caught.

"Edgar, we need to talk." Victor was huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath, amazed at Edgar's quick getaway.

"O… Okay" said Edgar, his voice trembling. His eyes almost instantly welled up in tears. It was obvious he was expecting the worse.

"Are… are you alright?" asked Victor. He was never really any good at starting conversations with this kid, especially now since it was obvious he was causing such distress for the boy before this conversation. Victor did not like the fact he was being malicious and wanted desperately to correct this situation even if it warranted an awkward conversation first.

Nodding, Edgar kept his eyes lowered. His head bobbed in his attempts not to look Victor straight in the face and it appeared that perhaps he was eyeing a way to escape again as well.

"Look… I know we haven't had a good start with this, but maybe we can try again at being friends?" Victor was sincere with this proposition.

Though the statement took Edgar off guard, he finally looked up at Victor. As a single tear escaped the boy's eyelid and as a gentle tremor moved the lad's body, he looked down again; Edgar gave a sniff that he tried to stifle.

"I'd… I'd like that" he whispered.

"Alright, well, let's um…" Victor paused to think for a second, trying to figure a way to make this less awkward.

"Let's… let's go see what's going on over at the baseball field." Victor wasn't exactly sure this is where he meant to go with this exchange, but after a second thought it seemed appropriate.

Victor was smiling now, trying to offset the tense mood that was still lingering between the two. Though he had harbored some deep anger towards Edgar a few days before and in fact still held a little of this fury even earlier this morning, he did somehow enjoy Edgar's company while they tried to test an experiment on a dead fish. The experiment itself was not one Victor could describe with pleasure, but while the two set up for the task at hand they exchanged a few words. Edgar had proven to have a rather enjoyable sense of humor and on several occasions made Victor chuckle at the ridiculous nature of what Edgar was saying. It was something Victor had thought of the night before, but only until this morning seeing Edgar in his depressed state did it really reenter his mind. Hopefully this will be something better than what happened before, Victor optimistically thought.

As they made their way to the baseball field, Edgar found the courage to ask Victor of his dog, Sparky. The dog was at the core of "The Incident", for the dog had been rather miraculously brought back from the depths of the grave by Victor. The problem that came from it was Edgar's making, however. After they successfully experimented on the fish, also bringing it back to life but with a changed physical character and temperament, Edgar revealed the secrets of resurrection that Victor uncovered to the other students in their class, namely to all of those who were still absent plus Bob. All these students, not realizing the nature of their experiments, took them to a much darker place. They too set out to bring the dead who lay silently in the cold clay of the grave or in the stone of their tombs back to life. What came forth were monsters unimaginable save for those featured in the horror flicks of old. The town was nearly devastated from the mutated results of those experiments and though one bright beacon of hope emerged from the travesty, all the others were sent back to their places of rest. Sparky, one of the few pets that was resurrected that maintained his memory of his former self was the only one to survive that hellish night.

"Oh, heh. Sparky is doing fine actually. I think he's still trying to get along with all the attention he's getting." Victor answered.

"Heh… I bet he feels like a real celebrity now doesn't he, Victor?" Edgar gave a more assured smile now.

"Yea, but he's still the same old dog. That's the best part about it." Victor beamed.

As they approached the baseball field, the pair met up with Elsa and had all taken to watching the game that was being practiced. Save for the pitcher and catcher who were still absent, the players were getting along with their game just fine. Had the other two been present though, things would be quite a bit livelier and a little more intense. It was obvious their being missing was making the game much less fun.

As the silent three sat and lolled in the warm afternoon sun, taking in the events happening before them on the field, they seemed content at this new turn of events. Edgar took a quick glance over at Victor. It almost seemed as though he was trying to confirm that he was indeed hanging out with two other kids from his class. Victor met his gaze and gave a smile. Their attention now settled back to the baseball game and time seemed to be gently slowed down to a snail's pace. It was a welcomed change in events that all three accepted greatly.

After the game had concluded and the voices of the other children drifted away in a sort of haunting way, Victor, Elsa, and Edgar made their way to the middle of town. The warmth of the afternoon had ebbed and things were beginning to cool down now. Mirages still played in the street ahead of them making the road ahead an inviting place to be heading. The hues of the world around the trio turned to a deepening shade of orange and the sparse clouds above were beginning to take on a purplish tinge.

Elsa brought the team suddenly to a halt at a street junction a few blocks just before Victor's home.

"I'll let you guys go for now. I've got to pick some things up at my aunt's house to take back home. My folks will be home in a few weeks so hopefully I can get away from my Uncle soon enough." She gave a slight groan when she mentioned "Uncle".

"Alright. See you around then, Elsa". Victor gave a tender wave to her.

"Yea, we need to hang out some more. This was a lot of _fun_!" said Edgar with that weird speech impediment he had that made him sound a bit like an imp.

"For sure! I had a lot of fun today!" Elsa gave a delicate bow and made her way down the block towards her destination.

"Well, where do you live, Edgar?" Victor turned to his companion.

"Oh ah… heh heh… I'd rather go there alone if you don't mind", said Edgar with a sheepish grin.

"Alright, but I can walk you to the street before you house, can't I?" Victor had a slight hint of suspicion at what Edgar had just said, but decided to not push the issue any further.

"Umm… okay." Edgar looked a bit unsure, but proceeded anyways.

As the two walked on and the shadows on the streets became long and the sky became redder, Edgar began to make a strange sort of sound as he walked. It sounded close to a wheeze but could have also been a whimper. Victor changed his pace to a slower mode and looked at his new friend.

"Is everything alright?" Victor's eyes narrowed on Edgar's face, which seemed a bit pale now and beads of clammy sweat clung to his brow.

"It's just something that happens after a long day is all." Edgar's legs seemed to carry a slightly heavier weight now.

"What's that?" Victor said again as he adjusted to match Edgar's speed as he slowed down to talk.

"Well, I've always had some trouble with my heart. I don't really know how to explain it, but it just makes me feel tired." Edgar looked at Victor's face which was growing a little more concerned.

"That doesn't sound good." Victor's eyebrows jutted inward and up. He had never heard of this before. He knew of times where Edgar was absent from class, but up until this point it was just a mystery he never really cared to delve deeper into. 'Was this a more ominous sign of something wrong?' Victor feared.

"It's alright, Victor." Edgar gave a reassuring smile. "I've been feeling a lot better since when all that crazy stuff was happening".

Now that Victor had been thinking of it, Edgar was missing from school for two days after the siege from the resurrected pets. Victor almost instantly felt guilt creep up on him. As they walked on, he looked at the ground.

Just a few blocks away at another intersection, Edgar stopped. As Victor looked around, he realized he wasn't the better side of town anymore. His parents often drove though this area on their way to the local strip mall, but always told him to never to go around there alone. He eyed silver and red graffiti on a dilapidated chain link fence with bits of plastic strung through it to make a cheap partition wall and noted tall weeds and grass poking out from the cement walkways.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to walk you the whole way to your house?" Victor felt a twinge of fear asking this as he was unsure as what to expect if he were to walk Edgar all the way home, but knowing of the condition of his comrade this made him feel the need to risk the cahnce.

"Nah", Edgar threw up his hands dramatically.

"Besides, it's getting late now. You don't want that vampire cat to snatch you up, do you?" Edgar made a creeping motion with his fingers making Victor notice that Edgar in fact had one hand far larger than the other with spidery looking fingers on one, and regular sized ones on the other.

"Heh... true. Well, if you're sure then I'll see you tomorrow. I think Toshiaki, Nassor, and that Weird Girl are coming back, so that's something to look forward to."

"I can't wait to see them! It's going to be so much fun poking fun at them!" Edgar nearly squeaked with glee, nudging Victor with his elbow.

"Let's not do that, Edgar. It's never fun when you get poked at, is it." Victor made a cross look on his face.

"Yea, yea… you're right. Well, I'll see you later".

"Bye." Victor again gave a gentle wave.

As he watched his friend hobbling across the street he felt a little more sympathy for Edgar. It was obvious now that even though he was underplaying his heart trouble earlier, Edgar was moving even slower now than he was when he was walking with Victor.

The now lone child on the edge of the clean side of the street looked around as the hunched figure disappeared into the alleyway of the dark and dirty side of the street. All the homes were poor looking even though he could only make that assumption from the rear of the buildings and from behind a stone fence. Still, the evidence of this poverty was evident. There were layers of advertisements and lost pet flyers littering the surface of a telephone pole across the way and dried up patches of grass that crowned the areas of the sidewalk on the shoddier side of the street. Victor was caught looking between two different worlds that he never thought of before.

As he made his way home, Victor peered over his shoulder one last time to take in the sight of the seedy neighborhood Edgar called home. He was determined in some way to help better his new friend's life in some way, somehow.


	2. Return to School

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Two:

The Return to School

The following day, Victor woke up in chipper spirits and was ready to tackle on the morning head on. Things were certainly looking on the up and up between Edgar and himself, so rather jovially, he got dressed and ran downstairs. With Sparky at his side, they seemed an unstoppable force.

"Hey, Mom!" he nearly shouted in his enthusiasm.

"Well, hello sweetie! We've got bacon and eggs this morning" Victor's mother said in an almost sing song sort of way as she made up his plate.

"What you got planned today, sport?" asked his father peeping at him from behind a newspaper. There was a certain malformed animal depicted on the front cover of the newspaper with the body of a black and grey cat with long fangs and bat wings. The words at the top of the paper read 'Vampire Cat: More Myth than Reality'.

"Oh, nothing much, Dad. Some of the other kids from the school will be coming back today. Also, Edgar and I will probably be doing something after school, so I might be late again today", said Victor plowing his fork into the breakfast his mother just put down for him.

Victor's parents looked at one another with a sort of relieved smile. They had been discussing for a while now how Victor hadn't a friend in the world besides his dog, Sparky. Even if it was that little abomination that ditched Victor's mother after asking for a cookie last time he was over. Yes, one weird friend is better than no friends at all they figured.

"Well, sport, I hope you have fun with your friend." Victor's father snapped the newspaper, returning his attention to that instead. Sparky looked up at Victor with those lovable round eyes and whimpered for whatever handouts his pleas would get him. Victor obliged, tossing down a piece of crispy bacon over his shoulder while keeping an eye on his mother, who condoned such actions. The dog quickly snapped up the bit of fried meat with great gusto.

After arriving at school, Victor quickly located Elsa where she usually sat in the yard, just behind the monkey bars on a small brick fence segregating a small vegetable garden the students were growing for a home economics class. He hadn't noticed before, but the pigtails she faithfully wore every morning looked great with the rest of her look. He smiled and walked towards her with a certain spring to his step. One thing he noticed next was that Edgar was nowhere to be seen. Within a few minutes the first bell had rung and Edgar was still nowhere to be seen. Victor's heart sunk a little.

As usual, Victor and Elsa where the first in their class followed by a few other students chattering about whatever trivial things that happened just five minutes before in the schoolyard. Of course, the entire class was looking out for three students who absent before now and were due to be arriving at any moment. Victor hoped that Edgar was just going to be late again as he often was.

It wasn't a long wait for the first of the expected group of former absentees began to arrive. In came Toshiaki with Bob at his side surrounded by a small group of students asking him a slew of questions.

"Whoa, so you really tried to banish the giant turtle all by yourself?" asked a student who was totally entranced by the story that Toshiaki was laying down.

"Yes! I was ready for a-anything that monster was going to do." Toshiaki said in the most proud of voices with the hint of think Asian accent that came with it. Bob of course was totally enthralled in the story as well.

"That's amazing!" Bob said with an equally excited tone.

Though Bob had been a key part of the whole debacle with the attack of the mutant pets, he did not see Toshiaki's trial with the giant turtle firsthand, so this was all new information to him. Bob wasn't normally the gullible type in all reality though he looked that part, but when Toshiaki was involved his loyalty had always shown though for his best friend. As Victor listened to Toshiaki, he figured that this was a sort of coping mechanism that Toshiaki was performing to help him cope as it was obviously painful for him to lose his turtle in that way. Maybe just thinking of the turtle as a monster to be banished was what he had to do to make it a little less painful that that was his beloved pet tortoise that was wreaking havoc on the town and ultimately died in the end. Elsa just looked at Victor and rolled her eyes. He couldn't help but give a slight chuckle, but his attention drew quickly towards the door to await for Edgar to turn up.

The next of the expected students arrived. Nassor, looking particularly annoyed today walked in with heavy steps. Though Nassor kept his intent eyes forward and was walking quicker than usual, Victor could see he was being trailed by a few of the braver students who looked to be more poking fun at the lurching student than asking excited questions like the others were doing with Toshiaki. Most of the kids respected Nassor's space as he was more than just a little bit intimidating, but there are always the more idiotic kind of students who always dared a little too much.

"Hey, did you hear guys? Nassor put his hamster against that giant turtle! What were you thinking, man? That monster massacred your pet!" mocked a shrill voiced boy who wore a red hat.

"Ha ha! It was a Nassacre guys! Get it? Nass-acre!" bellowed his beefier sidekick in a blue shirt.

"Hey yea! Ha ha ha!" shrieked the fiend with the red hat, pointing at the tall solemn boy. This caused two others in this group harassing Nassor to burst out in horrid simian laughter.

Just then, as Nassor was just about to reach his assigned seat and the group was still following his steps, Nassor quickly snapped around, causing the child with the red hat to walk right into Nassor's chest with a thud. The now seemingly infantile student had to look the long way up to the titan's angry and ghastly black eyes.

"_Leave me be_!" commanded Nassor, his piercing dark eyes glaring down at the much smaller youngster, his voice booming like thunder.

Needless to say, the group of four stood stiff for a second and after another tense moment of Nassor staring unyieldingly down at them pointing one of his long thin fingers at the door, they dispersed like scattering vermin. Once the group was out of the room, Nassor sat down heavily and stared intently at the blackboard ahead of him. There would be no more open mockery aimed at him today.

Victor winced at the now palpable fury wafting from the back of the room, turning his attention again at the open door. Once the second bell had rung, his heart sank a little more. Why would Edgar be missing today? 'Dear God, hopefully he is doing alright today,' he thought, a sort of pounding nervousness now filling his head. He hardly even noticed that the one known as 'Weird Girl' had entered the room a few seconds before the bell tolled. As she sat quietly in the back of the class next to Nassor, her giant orb like eyes sensed the obvious tension emanating from him. She directed her gigantic eyes at the front of the class. Nobody dared mess with her, not even the dumbest of students at the school for she was far freakier than Nassor could ever be. Toshiaki and Bob took their seats along with the other students who were still standing around the proud Asian boy. It was not long before the irksome coach appeared, started taking role call and spewing her thoughts on what she thought was science.

As lunch lead out, Victor approached the coach. She sat at her desk filling out some sort of paperwork, not taking any notice of the quiet young lad standing just inches in front of her. Elsa stood a little ways back to allow Victor to ask his question.

"Ma'am," he asked faintly.

"Yes?" answered the coach in that gruff almost man like voice she had.

"Uh… well, I was ah…I was wondering if you heard anything from Edgar as to why he was absent," he asked in a little louder voice.

"Edgar? You mean Edgar E. Gore, right? Oh… yes. His mother called in and said he wasn't feeling too well this morning. He's got an actual excuse today for why he didn't show up, Vincent. No need to be ratting out a fellow student like that," she lectured.

"Victor," he corrected, but was being shooed away by the aggressive woman's waving arm.

"Go along, eat your lunch. Go play with the other kids," she barked back at him, not listening to a word he was saying.

As Victor sat down at the new hangout point behind the monkey bars, Elsa eyed him. She could tell immediately something was greatly bothering him.

"So, how did you're walk home with Edgar go?" she asked in a lightly suspicious tone. 'Maybe something went wrong and they argued or something,' she pondered silently.

"Yea, but I found out he's got more than a few problems," Victor answered in a concerned manner.

Elsa scooted in to listen closer.

"What's that, Victor?" she leaned in a little.

"He's got some health problems. I think he's been sick all along and I just didn't care to notice. I feel like such a jerk right now," his voice stammered as he looked at his uneaten lunch.

Elsa looked down and around as well. She was taken aback by this revelation.

"None of us did," she finally managed to say. Victor directed his eyes at hers. Her eyes were calm, but very sincere.

"I know that's a hard thing to think about, but now that we do know we can make it up to him. There isn't really anything we can do about what happened before we knew this, but we can work at helping him out from this point forth," she smiled and placed her hand over his, giving him a comforting smile. He couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Yea… you're absolutely right, Elsa," Victor beamed. He was usually quick to despair about things like this, but it was obvious now that his new friendship with Elsa was one that was going to be most beneficial.

As finally the two got along with eating their lunch, Toshiaki, Bob, and a small yet growing collection of admirers assembled to listen in to hear his epic tale. They gathered around a large old oak tree located in the middle of the schoolyard. Weird Girl walked along the amassing group. Had anyone been paying any attention, it would have been obvious she was looking for something. Nassor sat alone on a buried tire that served as a chair not far away reading a book. Now and again he would give irritated glances up at the student's listening to Toshiaki's story, looking back down at the words in his book muttering inaudible words to himself. Weird Girl continued her search around the school yard for something or someone.

As Elsa and Victor made their way back to their classroom when the bell rang, they talked a little more about the events of the days before. Elsa had acted quite heroically in defending Edgar from the rat that he brought back to life. She had beaten the thing's assault back and in doing so saved him from being mauled by it. Victor complemented her on her bravery several times as they walked into class. She gave a few faint smiles and one obvious blush.

As the day wore on, assignments were being passed out on the next project for the science class. Because this was a post science fair project, of which Victor claimed a victorious first place in with his presentation about reviving his dog Sparky, the assignment was wearily anticlimactic.

Just when things were getting grueling, something happened that excited Victor quite a bit. Edgar has rejoined the class! He looked a bit drained and it appeared he was moving at a slower pace than his usual agitated self, but it was quite obvious he was happy to be back with the fellow students and looked especially gleeful to be sitting next to Victor again. Victor nearly jumped out of his seat with exhilaration when he saw his companion again.

Once school was over, Victor and Elsa joined Edgar outside after he received the notes he has missed while he was out from the gruff lady coach. It wasn't long before a certain large eyed girl joined their group.

"Hello, Edgar," Weird Girl said directing her unyieldingly creepy gaze at him.

"Hi," exclaimed Edgar in an upbeat chipper voice. Victor and Elsa just looked at the odd little schoolgirl and then at each other in a confused way.

"Mr. Whiskers left you something before he left," she said as she pulled out something wrapped in a towel from her bag. Very little emotion grazed her face when she mentioned her deceased cat.

"Uh… I don't need to look at it. I already know what that is," said Edgar retorting backwards, holding his arms up shielding himself from the mysterious wrapped item. Gifts from Mr. Whiskers had become very well known in the couple of times that the Weird Girl pulled them out of his letterbox. Weird Girl just stared at him holding it out for him to look at.

"It's an omen," she whispered in her mysteriously haunting voice.

"Yea... that's fantastic." Edgar took a step back now, obviously feeling more than a little uncomfortable by all this. Elsa and Victor looked on with a bit of curiosity but mostly disgust.

"I just thought you would like to see it, Edgar. Something big is going to happen to you soon." She took a step towards him.

"Alright… Weird Girl, I think that's enough," Elsa said as she stepped forth, blocking Weird Girl's advance on Edgar. "You can throw that away now."

As the Weird Girl took one last unblinking gaze at Edgar, emotions completely lacking, she repacked the parcel in her back and walked off. Edgar looked at Victor and Elsa who were watching her make her way off. As the three exchanged looks they all gave a hearty laugh and started to walk together to the middle of town as they had the day before.

The walk to the street where they would part was an enjoyable one. Victor told Edgar all about the day's events. He told of how the other students looked at Toshiaki again as a hero for the first time since he pitched a perfect game. He also mentioned about how Toshiaki had hammed up his telling of the "Incident" to the other students. Victor humorously reported the creation of the new word "Nassacre" and its meaning. He told Edgar about how Nassor nearly pummeled the red cap wearing trouble maker to the ground with his words and stair alone, all the while the trio laughed the entire time.

Finally, when it came time to part ways, Elsa and Victor ensured Edgar was alright with walking the rest of the way home alone again before they walked home together. Victor thanked his lucky stars for finally making two great new friends thus ending his loneliness in school. Since Elsa resided right next door for now, he bid her farewell and ran excitedly to his backyard to tell Sparky the dog all about the day's events.


	3. The Mentor

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Three:

The Mentor

Though it had only been two weeks since the missing students had returned, time was going by very slowly. It seemed like eons had passed since the incident of the "Dutch Day Terror", which it was referred to now by those who still talked of it. The hype around the whole event seemed to have been covered up nearly completely by the press and the adults around town were always quick to hush their children up about it if they were heard speaking about it. Either way, time was going by extremely slowly and the science class became a tedious chore which was made worse by the constant blundering mistakes of the coach who was currently trying and failing miserably to teach the science class he was assigned to. Students left the class more confused than enlightened nearly every day.

There was a glimmer of hope however. A rumor had started amongst the students that a teacher who had been dismissed a couple weeks back would make his return. Victor couldn't keep his hopes much higher that Mr. Rzykruski would be reinstated as his teacher again.

Victor was reading a chapter in a book covering the subject the coach was attempting to teach, ignoring the gruff woman completely, when he by chance looked out the window. To his delight he saw his old favorite teacher just outside in the parking lot! But then he noticed he was speaking to someone he never had met nor had seen before. It was a rather petite woman with short reddish hair wearing a black leather motorcycle vest, a white tank top, goggles, green pants, spiked wrist bracelets, and black boots. Victor was confused as to what Mr. Rzykruski would be doing talking to a individual like that. He watched more intently. They appeared to have known each other for some time as both were standing casually and laughed from time to time. Mr. Rzykruski leaned on his car as the woman sat on a black Harley Davidson motorcycle with two wheels in the back. He'd never seen a three wheeled bike before either. After a few more moments, they shook hands and the woman walked towards the school while Mr. Rzykruski took off in his vehicle. 'What the heck was that all about?' he pondered. He would have directed a note to Edgar in the desk next to him about what he saw, however, Edgar was gone. This time is wasn't due to a health issue. He was gone to participate in some sort of school program that he and a handful of other students got to partake in. In a few hours he would be able ask Edgar all about what he was doing in the program and tell him about that strange woman he saw with Mr. Rzykruski in the parking lot.

At lunch, Victor made his way with Elsa towards the school cafeteria. A few of the students known to be in the program Edgar was in walked out of the dining hall with other adults. Each of the children looked very happy about this visit with the adults who were with them. Victor wondered if he would see a certain suspicious character walking around with some other student.

When Victor walked into the cafeteria with Elsa, he was shocked to have seen what he witnessed. The weird woman was sitting at a table across the way with Edgar! He seemed to be glowing with happiness as he spoke with her. She sat across the table from him, her back to Victor and Elsa. Startled, he grabbed Elsa and swung her gently just outside the Cafeteria entrance behind a wall.

"What's wrong, Victor?" Elsa said in a startled voice, looking at him with surprise.

"Edgar is with that strange lady I saw outside. I think she's a biker!" he said, trying to keep a hushed tone.

"You mean the one you saw with Mr. Rzykruski?" she queried.

"Yes! This can't be good! My Mom always says to stay away from biker people because they aren't really good people to be around," he peered around the corner at Edgar, who was laughing now with the woman.

"Victor," Elsa said in a matter of fact voice. "That would be Edgar's mentor. She's someone who is supposed to be helping Edgar, not to hurt him or whatever else you're thinking. Have you noticed other kids with adults? They're with their mentors. I doubt she's a bad influence on him regardless of the fact that she's a biker or not." She looked at him with arms folded.

Victor, feeling a little silly now, looked about at the other students and their mentors in the hall. They were all meeting their student's friends and looking at projects their pupils had done. None of the other adults looked quite like the woman Edgar was with, but now feeling a little more at ease about her he figured he would have to give her a chance. Gathering his courage together, he and Elsa made their way towards Edgar and his mentor.

As Edgar saw Victor and Elsa coming towards him, he began to wave insanely with a great amount of energy. The woman turned around to look at the approaching children, a curious look glanced her face with a keen smile.

"Victor! Victor! This is my mentor! Mrs. Harris!" He stood up and met them halfway between them and the woman.

"Uh… hi," he said with an unsure tone.

"Hey there, you must be Victor," she said turning around completely to face him. "And you must be Elsa! I'm so happy to finally get to meet you two. Edgar has been going on and on about you guys!" Mrs. Harris stood up to shake Victor and Elsa's hands.

"Yes… it's a pleasure, Mrs. Harris," Elsa said warmly. Victor couldn't help but eye a couple of tattoos on Mrs. Harris' arms. There was a star and her moon on either one of her forearms and the face of a bobcat on her left upper arm. He'd never spoken to anyone with tattoos before.

"Let's sit down! I have so much to show you guys!" Edgar exclaimed, shaking with exhilaration.

"Take it easy now, Edgar." Mrs. Harris said in a motherly tone.

As the small group sat with the woman and Edgar, Victor began to gain a lot more trust in the strange lady with the goggles and tattoos as they exchanged conversations. She was a warm mannered woman who obviously cared a great deal for Edgar. She had brought Edgar a few gifts for him which he was now showing off with tremendous cheerfulness. She bought him a model of the motorcycle she rode in on, a handsome black sweater, a bar of soap, a toothbrush with some toothpaste, a few books, a bag of candy, and a sort of hands on science kit for him to experiment with. Edgar went through each gift, explaining what they were and carefully showing them off to his friends. Mrs. Harris was obviously very glad at seeing Edgar this happy.

"Well, it sure looks like you're going to be busy with these now, aren't you Edgar?" Elsa said with a grin looking at Edgar.

"I'm going to learn about microscope stuff!" Edgar wheezed out, his excitement getting the better of him. Mrs. Harris laughed a little and looked at Elsa and Victor.

"I'm so glad Edgar has friends like you guys now. He tells me every night about you two and the things you get into here in school. I've got something for you two," she said as she pulled two small bags from a black backpack she had at her side. As she handed them the bags, Victor eyed what was inside. It was candy. Victor felt a little bad now about judging this woman the first time he saw her solely on her appearance.

"Thank you, Ma'am," said Elsa and she gave Mrs. Harris a nod.

"Thank you, Mrs. Harris," Victor said giving her a warm smile.

After a few more minutes of talking together, Mrs. Harris looked at the clock on the wall.

"Well Edgar, I'll leave you be with your friends. I'll see you next week, sweetie," she said looking at Edgar fondly.

"Does it have to be so long?" Edgar said with a little bit of a frown.

"Yes. But don't forget about what we talked about today, ok? If you need anything just call me on the phone. I don't care what time or what it is you need, alright?" Mrs. Harris now gave him a heartfelt hug and looked down at him.

"Ok. I can't wait until next week," whispered Edgar.

And with that, Mrs. Harris stood up and readjusted a backpack she swung onto her back. After bidding farewell to Victor and Elsa, she walked off towards the entrance of the cafeteria. As the three watched her walking off, they noticed that Bob had approached her. She patted him on the head after exchanging a few words they parted ways. Bob kept looking back at her as he walked back toward Toshiaki, who sat at the far side of the lunchroom. Shortly after that, Nassor walked into the cafeteria, looked surprised to see Mrs. Harris and began talking with her as well. Mrs. Harris was so short and Nassor so tall they could look each other right in the eye. Elsa made a joke about seeing that, causing Edgar to giggle snort and Victor to chuckle. After Nassor finished speaking with her, she patted him on his shoulder, and they walked off away from each other, waving.

"Bob and Nassor know her too?" asked Victor curiously.

"Yea! She's a nurse that works at the hospital downtown. She was Bob's nurse when he broke his arm and Nassor's nurse when he was trapped in that doll thing and almost _died_," Edgar replied, trying make his voice sound spooky after he said 'died'.

"Oh, wow! Really? I bet she told you all sorts of things about how those two were being real wimps about their situations!" Elsa exclaimed.

"Nope! Nurses don't tell other people about their patients. It's against the rules!" exclaimed Edgar, folding his arms, looking up in a snobby gesture, a huge smirk on his face.

"I didn't even know that!" Victor said taking a candy out of the bag he was given, placing the chocolate in his mouth. Lunch concluded shortly afterwards.

After school, Victor, Elsa, and Edgar walked home. This had become the end of the day ritual. Sometimes they would go watch the baseball game and sometimes they would just sit and talk about whatever subject that graced their minds at the time at their spot. Today, it was all about Mrs. Harris. Edgar was obviously very happy to speak all about her.

"You must really like her, Edgar. It's almost like you're talking about your Mom," Victor said, running a stick he found along a picket fence.

"Well, I hope it will happen sometime soon," Edgar whispered.

"What do you mean by that?" Elsa asked, slowing down along with Victor so they could listen to Edgar better.

"Oh… yea. That…" Edgar stopped and looked at the ground.

"Things haven't been so good lately at home. I don't think my Mother likes me much anymore. She never really liked having me around, actually," Edgar began to fidget with his fingers while focusing his gaze at different things on the ground. Victor and Elsa's bright faces quickly turned glum. Victor dropped the stick he was holding.

"Me and Mrs. Harris were wondering if my Mom would sign some papers to let Mrs. Harris adopt me. My Mother was alright with the idea at first, but now she doesn't want to sign the papers anymore. She said it costs too much money to do that. Mrs. Harris said she would pay for my Mother's half if she needed to, but my mother is being weird about it." Edgar's eyes looked a little wetter than usual now.

Elsa and Victor looked at each other in near horror. The two had thought it was weird that Mrs. Harris gave Edgar a bar of soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, before. Now it was all making sense. Elsa looked as though she wanted to cry. Victor held himself steady, but deep inside he felt a throbbing feeling in his gut and his throat started to feel choked. Still, he kept the strong face well.

"Well, hopefully they'll sign the papers soon, Edgar. Then you can live with Mrs. Harris and have all the fun you want. I think that would be very nice," commented Elsa, trying to make the situation less depressing, her voice cracking from the knot that was in her throat as well.

"Maybe there's something we can do to help out," added Victor.

Edgar smiled.

"You two are the best friends a guy could ask for," he looked up now, eyes shiny with tears though none fell down.

"Yea. Your Mom will sign the papers. I can see that happening for sure, but hopefully soon," Victor said putting a hand on Edgar's shoulder, trying to comfort his buddy as well as provide some hope however small it may be.

"My Mother isn't my Mom. Any lady can be a Mother. A Mom is someone who cares and loves you. Mrs. Harris is my Mom," Edgar proclaimed, quite possibly the wisest thing either Victor or Elsa ever heard him say. Taken aback by this, Victor and Elsa didn't have anything else to say. They processed to walk the rest of their ways home.

The rest of the walk to the middle of town was a quiet one. Each in the group had so much on their minds it was impossible to make much of a conversation. Silently, Victor prayed that Edgar's Mother would sign those papers soon. Edgar had been through so much in his short life that Victor desperately wanted something positive to finally happen to his little friend. That night, Victor spent a good long time just staring at his ceiling wondering what Edgar was up to now. Eventually, with Sparky asleep night to him in his bed, Victor went asleep.


	4. Child Asleep

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Three:

Child Asleep

Victor was starting to become very worried now. It had been three days since he saw Edgar in class. When asked about what the coach knew of his whereabouts, she replied with a resounding 'I don't know'. Elsa too had started to get nervous. This morning started again without Edgar showing to class. Victor took a couple glances back at her once the last bell rang and class started.

The class would soon find itself in the middle of an uproar when the coach who was currently teaching the course did not open the door to the classroom, but another did. Mr. Rzykruski was back! As the students collectively gasped at this sight, they all cried out in glee. Victor and Elsa beamed as well. It was the first good news they had had in days.

"Good morning, my little scientists!" he shouted, trying to get his voice to rise above the sounds of the happy children in the classroom. Mr. Rzykruski could not help but give a toothy smile in reaction to this grand welcome back.

As Mr. Rzykruski made his way to his desk, he looked at Victor, giving a charismatic wink. Somehow, seeing this made Victor feel more at ease for the moment and Elsa couldn't help but notice the wink from where she sat. She looked at Victor, who seemed to come to life again. For the time being, things were looking up, but both had the insistent need to find Edgar. Speaking to Mr. Rzykruski after class would have to be the first order of business.

The science class, which had before been so boring, came to life all over again. Mr. Rzykruski set about explaining what they were supposed to have already learned from the coach as well as correcting her mistakes. His way of educating was one of brilliant planning. Within a couple of hours into the school day, not only did the children in the class understand what was being said, they were also very interested in the material. Mr. Rzykruski relied on a more practical approach to teaching. Being presented with the combination of visual, hands on, and group discussion methods of learning the brood responded with feverish enthusiasm.

As the bell tolled for the beginning of lunch, Victor and Elsa made an attempt to speak with Mr. Rzykruski, but were thwarted in this attempt by the school principal herself. From the sounds of it, she was going to be holding another parent teacher conference where Mr. Rzukruski would be answering questions directed to him by the parents, another formality before he would be free from suspicion obviously, Victor and Elsa concluded. There would be no use in trying to speak to him again until after school.

Though the wait was excruciating despite the fact that the material being covered was incredibly interesting, Victor could not get his head to wrap around it. His head kept drifting back to where Edgar's whereabouts could be. A sort of sickening feeling came over him thinking about it. His stomach turned at one point so badly that he felt aching pains radiating down his arms and feet. A sort of cold sensation drifted around his skull, sort of like he was floating and not really in a classroom. As he looked over at Edgar's empty desk, he knew something must be dreadfully wrong.

School finally concluded at around three o'clock that afternoon. As the other children where making their way towards the exit, Victor jumped up and seized his chance to speak to Mr. Rzykrucki. The pile of students flocking towards the exit slowed Victor down.

"Sir! Mr. Rzykruski!" Victor cried just as it seemed the instructor was about to go into the teacher's lounge.

"Ah! Victor! So good to see you again!" Mr. Rzykruski bellowed, his smiling mouth framing his crooked dentition.

"Mr. Rzykruski, I, uh…" Victor stammered, realizing he didn't want to come off as rabid during the first conversation he and Mr. Rzykruski had had since the teacher was let go from the school those few weeks prior.

"I'm very glad that you're back," Victor said, finding his place to talk again.

"I'm very glad to be back, Victor, but you seemed preoccupied during class today. Is there something wrong?" asked Mr. Rzykruski, looking down at Victor. Victor was surprised that the man had noticed his aloofness. Victor cleared his voice and tried speaking more clearly.

"Edgar had been missing for three days. Tomorrow might be four. I don't know what to do. I very concerned," Victor looked up at the wise old man. Mr. Rzykruski closed his eyes and shook his head.

"The school has been concerned as well, Victor. His Mother has not contacted us about his absence. I was told by the principal that a truancy officer would be stopping by his house tomorrow to check up on him," Mr. Rzykruski bent down a little to be at Victor's level. He could see the obvious signs of stress written on his face.

"No, I feel like we have to go now. I don't feel right about this," Victor was starting to breathe a little faster now after getting that sentence out, almost feeling panic setting in. "I need to check on my friend!" he was nearly shouting now, his face feeling flushed while a throbbing sensation filled his head.

Mr. Rzykruski looked at Victor with even more worry now. He placed a hand gently on Victor's shoulder, trying to soothe the troubled youth. Victor paused for a moment, looking up at his professor.

"Do you recall what I said in lecture today, Victor?" Mr. Rzykruski said, speaking in a soft manner.

"N… not to panic when there is no substantial evidence?" Victor answered in a shaky voice.

"That is right. But I also said something else that would be of use for you right now. Do you recall this other thing I said?" Mr. Rzykruski looked at behind Victor, seeing that Elsa was not far from the discussion. She too looked worried. He focused again on the student before him.

"No, sir. I can't," Victor looked down, feeling slightly ashamed he had not paid closer attention in class.

"I had said to trust your gut feeling. Sometimes, we know more than we think we do. It is those feelings of doubt that a good scientist should explore to ensure everything is going to be alright in the end. If you are having a bad feeling about your little friend, you should look further into it," Mr. Rzykruski gave a faint smile as he patted Victor's shoulder.

"I don't know how to get a hold of him. I don't even know where he lives," said Victor as he saw Elsa walk up to stand right next to him, turning his head towards her and then back to his tutor.

Mr. Rzykruski closed his eyes and pondered a moment. Once it seemed he had reached a conclusion he turned to look at Victor again.

"What I am about to do for you Victor, you cannot tell anyone about. Do you promise this? Both of you?" he pointed a finger at both Victor and Elsa.

"Yes, sir," they both answered together.

"Then follow me," Mr. Rzykruski replied, turning sharply around to reenter the classroom. Elsa and Victor followed him with hurried steps.

As Mr. Rzykruski dug around in his desk looking for something, Victor looked at Elsa.

"I wish I could go with you, but I have to go home and get ready. My folks will be coming home tonight," she murmured.

"That's alright Elsa. I'll let you know what happens," he looked at Elsa, but then turned his attention back to Mr. Rzykruski, who was now focusing his glasses on something written in a notebook.

"Edgar E. Gore," the teacher announced. "He lives on 1438 Westvoorne Road," he took off his glasses and looked at the two youths before him.

"I have it! Thank you Mr. Ryzkruski! Thank you!" Victor nearly knocked the old teacher over as he hugged him before jolting out the door. Elsa did her best to keep up with him. Finally, when she was at least within earshot, she hollered to him as he kept running.

"Call me tonight, Victor! Let me know how it goes!" she yelled out to him, slowing down now, knowing she'd never be able to keep up with his pace and that there was no point in trying to catch up to him anymore.

"I will, Elsa! I will!" responded Victor, running as fast as his thin legs could carry him.

As Victor ran past all the landmarks he had seen on during the days he walked home with Edgar, he could hardly keep the thought out of his mind of what Mr. Rzykruski said to him just before he took off like a bat out of hell. 'Trust in your gut. It is better to check things out to ensure everything is fine in the end', he repeated in his head.

Without much thought, Victor vaulted across the street to the dark side of New Holland, a place he had never been before. He remembered where he saw Edgar turned when he watched him from across the street on the lighter side. He must have ran for ages, he felt. He repeated the house number over and over again, tyring his best not to forget the digits and street name. Every street name he saw was not Westvoorne Road. His heart began to thump heavily in his chest, he could feel his pulse thumping in his aching head. 'Where is it? Where is it?' he thought over and over. After running past many different street signs, he was beginning to feel nausea set in. His legs cramped from running for so long, but he ignored it. Just as he were about to fall in a fit of exhaustion, he finally saw it. Westvoorne Road stood right in front of him. He ran a few more houses down when he finally came upon the number 1438. A chill ran up his spine.

The house that stood before him was in low regard. No grass grew on the parched lawn and various tools and trash littered the front yard. The paint that barely clung to the brinks beneath was worn and bleached. Nothing about this place was inviting. Victor could hear the sounds of a baby crying a few houses down and could feel as though he was being watched. Here within these quarters is where his friend lived? How could this be so? Victor swallowed hard and walked towards the front door. It took all of his courage to turn the knob.

As the door squeaked open, a current of foul air wafted out of the house. Victor had to switch from breathing in through his nose to breathing in and out of his mouth. As he opened the door wider, the door was being caught by the various articles of debris that soiled the floor. There were a couple of empty medicine bottles right before him on the ground. Victor looked at the names of some bottles. 'Sertraline' was the name of the medicine on the label along with a woman's name, 'Tabitha Gore'. Victor turned his attention to the rest of the house.

Creeping inside, Victor had to maneuver around boxes and bottles of both spent medication and alcohol. The house was rather hot inside due to the fact there was no ventilation system running to cool it off. Victor had to probe around with his feet before he stepped forth because of the very limited lighting present. What light was present mostly came from the door and a few dim light bulbs hanging precariously from the ceiling. Finally, he found a dark foreboding hallway which was a little less cluttered. As he looked in the first door, he saw nothing but a dirty old mattress on the floor with a ripped filthy comforter on top. A rusty old television set played static as it lay on its side on the ground. The next door led to a bathroom which looked as though it had not been cleaned in years. A foul odor reeked from the open doorway as Victor passed it. Finally, he approached the final door. His heart was pounding faster now, he felt his knees shaking. He knew this door would either lead to another dead end or something far grimmer than that of the unknown. Victor peered inside now, his breath becoming heavier and heavier. What he saw would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

There Edgar was, breathing just barely. He lay on a bed covered with a tattered old grey looking blanket. He looked to be in a state of extreme disease. When he was able to take breath, a horrid gurgling sound emanated from his dry open mouth. Victor had never before heard such noises coming from anyone like that, but the sound froze him right to the bone. One eye appeared to be half open, but not by Edgar's own accord. His eye appeared to be severely dehydrated to the point he could no longer close it fully shut anymore. His hands were clutching onto a book which he received as a gift just days ago. Victor's stomach turned so hard that the contents within nearly spilled out of his mouth.

"Ed… Edgar?" he said, voice cracking and shaking from the intense emotions he was feeling. Tears filled his eyes instantaneously.

Edgar stirred for a moment. His other eye opened for a second before trying to shut again, the lid moving downward grotesquely slowly.

"Edgar!" Victor shouted, now running to his friend. He shook Edgar hard a few times, finally getting a response.

"Victor…" he replied weakly. "You came to see me?" Edgar's voice rasped as his words forcibly left his severely chapped lips.

"Edgar, we need to get you out of here! Where is there a phone?" Victor shrieked as panic filled him.

Edgar faintly pointed to a darkened corner of the room. Victor quickly began to dig through a heap of garbage, all the while Edgar watched helplessly on from the bed. When Victor finally found an old corded phone, he listened for a ring tone. Once one was heard he frantically dialed 911.

"911, what is your emergency?" answered a female operator at the other end of the line.

"Yes! I need an ambulance down here right away! Were at 1438 Westvoorne Road! Please come immediately, I think my friend is dying!" he pleaded desperately on the phone. As he kept speaking with the operator, his words became more chocked as tears streamed down his cheeks, his mind racing to provide the operator with more information about the situation. His voice cracked fiercely under the strain he was under.

Edgar continued to watch Victor urgently trying to get him help, though the sounds were now beginning to slip away from him now. He blinked slowly again, trying to keep focus on his friend. 'How nice is this?' he thought silently to himself. 'Maybe we can go watch a baseball game after this. Yes… that would be nice. I am so happy not to be alone right now, so very happy. Maybe Mrs. Harris will come too and we can watch the game together'. The room seemed to be getting darker and darker. 'I think I'll just go to sleep now that Victor is here. I'm so very tired. I want to be awake when Mrs. Harris gets here'. And with that, Edgar gave his last breath, his head jerking slightly before he lay totally still.

As Victor turned to look at his now motionless friend, the phone dropped from his grasp, hitting the floor with a thud. The operator tried to a great extent again and again to get Victor to pick up the phone by yelling for him, but there would be no use for it. Victor moved in closer to look at Edgar's face, whose color was now leaving. His face assumed a masklike quality and his color turned a sickly shade of yellow he had not seen before. Victor hardly noticed the sound of the sirens and the men kicking open the door. All he could look at was Edgar's empty face.


	5. The Funeral

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Three:

The Funeral

The dawning of the next day brought little comfort to the inhabitants of New Holland. The news broke later that night that a child in the town had died under suspicious circumstances. A woman thought to be the biological mother of the diseased child had been arrested in the early hours of the morning. She was being held for questioning at the time, though those close to the incident knew the woman being held was not coming out of the police station anytime soon. A few more hours revealed the detained woman to be Tabitha Gore, Edgar's biological mother and caretaker. Though she was innocent until proven guilty, more than a few people knew that the events in the days before that day were of no mistake. She was directly responsible for her son's death.

Victor could not make it to school that day. Though the ambulance had been called for Edgar last night, Victor soon became another patient as an additional ambulance arrived on scene. After his parents had picked him up late in the night from the hospital, Victor took to being alone by himself in his room. Sparky sat outside the closed door and whimpered softly.

Though Elsa did attend to classes that day, she appeared detached and tearful. The rest of the class too had taken on a somber nature. Mr. Rzykruski sat quietly at his desk, his brow furled at the weight of the news he received not long ago. He looked at the students sitting quietly in their desks. It wasn't long before the school counselor would come in to speak to the students about the news that a fellow classmate would no longer be attending school with them anymore.

In the days leading up to the funeral that would be held, the sun never showed its face. It has seemed the entire town of New Holland wore a veil of tears. Though life was still going on, things were conducted in a very solemn manner. People at the coffee shop exchanged theories of what happened exactly happened at Westvoorne Road. Some talked about how the young Frankenstein boy had found the body of the child, while others murmured about rumors that a woman, though not directly related to the dead boy, had taken the news of his passing as best she could, but had not eaten for days now. Bikers gathered in a cheerless cluster at a local tavern, each gave up what money they could afford to donate to a burly man collecting funds for the preparation of the funeral of a child they each knew personally. Nothing anyone said or did could change the cold harsh facts that life had thrown their way.

At school, once Victor had returned, members of the student counsel sat with him to discuss how he was holding up and what should be said about his friend when a representative of the student body would speak at the wake to be held the following night. It had taken quite a while for him to get much of anything out about what a good friend Edgar was, but the student counsel remained patient with him and even spent some time crying alongside him in his grief.

As the day came and went, another heavy thunderstorm rocked the town of New Holland. Victor's parents tried their best to get him to eat, but even the finest cooked meal escaped Victor's lips. Tears hung constantly within his eyes as he sat looking aimlessly at the prepared meal. After his dinner went uneaten, Victor's Mom picked out some formal attire for him to put on for the funeral about to take place.

As the Frankenstein family approached the funeral home, the roar of a more than a dozen motorcycles filled the air around them. A couple of bikers waited outside, but a few stood at front entrance, opening it for them as they entered. In the lobby, several other motorcyclists spoke in hushed tones and a couple students from Victor's class sat in chairs with their families. Toshiaki and Bob sat quietly up on a long couch as they saw Victor come in the room, while Nassor turned around to face him. All were dressed in fine Sunday clothing. As Victor approached the three boys, he also noted that the little Weird Girl was hovering near a display of pictures put up in front of the room the ceremony would be held in. She carefully studied each of them. Victor motioned to the boys that he would join them after he was done looking at the collage with Weird Girl.

The pictures on exhibit showed far happier times. Most contained Mrs. Harris and Edgar together. The closeness the two shared with each other was very evident now. Victor had not known until yesterday at the meeting with student council that Mrs. Harris was Edgar's mentor and friend or almost three years now. The photos showed Edgar riding with her on her characteristic three wheeled Harley Davidson, Edgar alone giving that cheeky smile of his while in various locations about town, or with other bikers doing outlandishly funny things. A few of the motorcyclists he saw outside were in the pictures as well. None depicted Edgar with his biological mother.

"It's funny how a bright light can be snuffed out so quickly," Weird Girl whispered to Victor, still looking at the display. The knot already formed in his throat became tighter. He excused himself from Weird Girl's presence to go sit with the other boys.

As Toshiaki and Bob scooted aside for Victor to sit down, they focused on the now opening front door. Elsa and her parents came through it, along with Mr. Rzykruski, the gruff coach who was the former science teacher, and the school principal. They gathered in a less populated area of the funeral parlor to speak amongst themselves in quiet voices.

Once the hour came for the procession to start, the doors to the chapel were opened. Victor could see Mrs. Harris being escorted in by one of the funeral directors. She would be the first to pay her respects. Though she looked pale, her eyes were down casted, and it was obvious she was exhausted, it was evident that she still stood with great authority amongst the mourners. Her biker comrades bid her their condolences as she passed by. Though it was known that she was a nurse, she dressed in an all black biker outfit. Victor now supposed that bikers had some sort of dress code that they observed during trials like this as he noted the rest of her the men and women in her group were in similar attire. As she walked into the chapel, the other bikers directed Victor to go in with his parents second. They knew he was Edgar's best friend. The others filed in after him.

Soft organ music played on the speakers in the chapel and the scent of fresh cut flowers filled the air in the capacious room. The area was softly lit with dimmed lights and gently flickering candles. At the far end, Victor could see that Mrs. Harris was kneeling before a small light blue casket that contained the remains of a boy that she considered her son. Victor could barely bring himself to walk down the long aisle to the coffin to see his friend, but somehow his legs betrayed his fears and set him walking forth.

As he got closer to the casket, he could just make out the side of Edgar's face as Mrs. Harris was still kneeling before him. A tall elderly biker with a handlebar mustache stood beside her with a hand placed on her back. Because of Edgar's extreme case of kyphosis, he was laid to rest on his side. He looked more asleep than dead now with his eyes close gently together. Mrs. Harris' shoulders heaved a little as Victor heard the soft sound of her crying and the words she spoke to the sleeping lad.

"It's okay, Edgar. It's okay," she whispered to him. "I will always love you, my son. Always."

The man next to her then handed her a blanket, to which she proceeded to tuck Edgar in, as a mother would do to tuck their child in for a night's rest. After kissing his brow, she held Edgar's hand for a moment, reflecting on the face of her beloved child. After another minute, she stood up with the aid of her companion, walked to the front pew and sat down, dabbing her weeping eyes with a small white handkerchief. Victor could now see a name tag sewed onto the man with the handlebar mustache's motorcycle vest. It read 'Grizzly'. The three boys sitting out in the lobby went up to Mrs. Harris. As Toshiaki stood back, Bob and Nassor exchanged hugs with her. Nassor then proceeded to speak with Mrs. Harris. He was explaining something to her as he held some documents in his hand. She nodded in agreement and allowed him, Bob and Toshiaki to sit next to her.

Victor could hardly take this anymore. As he turned to somehow escape his place, Victor's father stood behind him, looking at him with immense remorse. Victor looked up at his father, tears falling down his cheeks like wax falling down a melting candle's side.

"Come on, son," said Mr. Frankenstein sympathetically. He placed a hand on his shoulder and aided him up to view Edgar one last time. Victor could not believe that what was in that elegant box was the body of his friend. Though it looked like Edgar, it also didn't. He could tell there was a fair bit of cosmetic makeup on his face to give him the appearance of life, though his delicate little fingernails betrayed this illusion as they were a ghastly milky yellow color and no longer pink. Victor had seen his dog dead before, but to see another human being deceased before him was exceedingly difficult. He feared looking at his friend's face. Some deeply buried instinct within him was screaming within him to flee.

"He looks very restful," his father commented.

Victor nodded. Compared to what he had seen Edgar looked like the night he died, Edgar did indeed appear to be resting quite peacefully. Victor swallowed hard and finally found the courage to touch Edgar's hand as Mrs. Harris had done. Perhaps it would be comforting to Edgar somehow that he cared enough about him to touch him. It felt cold and rigid. It was not like his own hand, which was warm and pliable. Edgar's hand felt like a cold block of wood. Victor withdrew his hand away quickly. The whole ordeal made him feel almost nauseous.

Victor did not wish to stay there any longer. He looked to his father with pleading eyes. His father nodded understandingly and guided him to sit in the front pew with Mrs. Harris and the others. It was some time before the funeral actually started, but it was obvious that this time was to be used for the mourners to view the body and comfort those who needed it. It was not long before Elsa came to sit alongside Victor and Mrs. Harris. Many people then proceeded to speak with Mrs. Harris about the loss, giving her embraces of empathy and words for her to find solace in. It nearly seemed a cruel thing to Victor that she would have to put through such an ordeal in the first place. Anger slowly bubbled up inside him towards the person responsible for Edgar's death.

Once the memorial service started, a priest from a local church that Mrs. Harris attended spoke. The words appeared to soothe Mrs. Harris a little and many of the bikers nodded in agreement. Mr. Rzykruski bowed his head and seemed to be saying something under his breath. A prayer, perhaps? Words of wisdom, maybe? Victor would never know. The congregation then proceeded to offer prayers for Edgar's soul to find its way safely to heaven's gates.

Towards the end of the ceremony, Nassor took to the podium. He was the representative the student council had sent. He cleared his voice and began to speak. It was hard for Victor to pay attention to every word, but from what he had heard, Nassor was extremely qualified for the position. His words rang out across the crowd like exceptional poetry. In class, Nassor often spoke in such strange lyrical manners, but until now it had seemed very out of place. Victor was surprised at the diction his classmate used and the appropriateness to which his words were being directed. Once Nassor completed his beautiful speech, he offered time for a brief prayer to be said, and with a resounding "Amen", the ceremony concluded. A second period for mourners to have one last look at Edgar had begun.

About an hour later, Victor was at home again. He felt very lost. To his surprise, he had begun crying without him even thinking about anything. He tried to hold these tears back, but found it nearly impossible to. After a moment, he accepted what was happening and wept openly. Sparky the dog had tried to console him, nudging his face under Victor's arm, but these efforts were in vein. Victor had cried himself to sleep a third night in a row.

The next day proved to be even harder than the day before. Upon closing Edgar's casket, Mrs. Harris began lamenting loud enough that those even in the back of the parlor felt the tearful plight of the woman. A few started to cry alongside her. Bob had taken to crying plainly while Nassor and Toshiaki had tearful eyes, but none fell. They both felt they had to be the strong ones for those who were so obviously in pain at the moment.

The procession to the cemetery was escorted by no less than 30 bikers on motorcycles. Mrs. Harris would have been at the front the pack had her emotional state been more stable. She rode behind the hearse in a black limousine. Victor's parents followed close behind them, accompanied by the rest of the mourners in their vehicles.

At the graveside, all listened again to the preacher say a few final words as Edgar's body was lowered into the ground. After the ceremony was completed entirely, almost all of the people attending left. The only one still left at the grave was Mrs. Harris. A downpour unleashed its furry upon her head, but she did not budge. The man known as 'Grizzly' was the one who finally had to escort her to the drier confines of the black limousine. She was hesitant at first to leave Edgar's side, but after some coaxing she finally left.

Watching all this unfold made Victor very upset. He looked one more time back at the area Edgar now laid as his parents drove off, the rain thumping against the window.

'This isn't fair', he kept thinking to himself. 'This isn't fair!'

After a period of time driving through the rain, Victor finally held his head up again, eyes wide with a glimmer of hope. Yes… he knew what had to be done. Mrs. Harris would have her boy back again soon… very soon.


	6. Grave Robber

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Six:

Grave Robber

Upon getting home from the funeral, Victor conducted himself as he would any other day. He speculated that perhaps his parents as well as others in the community might be suspicious of his plans. The revival of his dog would certainly put such things into their heads. This situation was far more complex than the experiment he did on Sparky though. Should he be discovered carrying out his plans he was certain dire ramifications would be the result. Instead of acting in the guarded nature as he did when he was out on to revitalize his dog, he would act the part of a rational but grief struck boy.

The dinner with his parents became interesting however. His mother had made a spectacular banquet. She had cooked up herb rubbed chicken that she baked in the oven, stuffed potatoes with sour cream, bacon bits, and onions topped with a square of butter, and creamed corn made in a fashion all her own. She had also on a tray in the middle of the table six fresh baked dinner rolls, a stick of butter on a platter sat nearby. Once everything was set and looked beautiful, Victor was called down from his room to come and eat. A few minutes went by without anyone saying a word when finally Mr. Frankenstein broke the silence.

"How are you holding up, son?" asked Mr. Frankenstein, biting into a dinner roll.

"As good as I can, I suppose," replied Victor, looking down, calculating every move he made.

It was then that Mrs. Frankenstein looked at her husband with concern cast in her eyes when Victor knew for certain they were wary of his plans.

"We're just concern is all, Victor. The death of a close friend can be very hard to take," Mr. Frankenstein said, now looking at the different articles on the table. After another few more uncomfortable moments, he looked to his son.

"You ah… you don't have any plans for what you are going to be doing tonight, do you Victor?" he said, the words oozing with distrust thinly covered with a thing line of banter.

Victor shook his head, looking his father in the eye. 'Don't blow it Victor. This is the most important project of your life. You can ask for forgiveness later once Edgar is back and everyone sees that death _can_ be concurred,' he thought.

"I think I just want to go to my room after this. I've been missing homework all this week and I really need to catch up," he stuck a fork in his baked potato, forcibly stirring it.

"That's good, Victor. Sometimes it's best to keep yourself busy when you're feeling down. I'll be up to check on you though. I'm making some fresh chocolate chip cookies just for you," his Mother cooed.

Victor could see now very clearly that his mother also supposed that he had a scheme for Edgar. As he shoveled a few spoonfuls of food into his mouth, he devised another arrangement to dig up Edgar's body. He knew tonight would be out of the question. Both his Mother and Father would be watching him carefully and if he suddenly disappeared he would be found out and the plan to resurrect Edgar would be entirely ruined.

He thought back to something Mr. Rzykruski had said weeks ago when he was demonstrating the effects of electricity on the muscles of a dead frog. Weird Girl had asked what the smell was that perfumed the room after the learned old professor disconnected the cables from the frog's legs. He had explained that it was formaldehyde, a sort of preservative agent that prevented dead laboratory specimens from decaying. He also went on to say that colder temperatures also prohibited the advance of decomposition from setting upon the body. Weird Girl then asked if the formaldehyde and cold temperatures worked the same for humans after they died. 'You can always count on that girl to ask insane questions as such in class', Victor reflected. The answer Mr. Rzykruski had given was that humans were 'embalmed' for viewing at a funeral to stop bacteria from eating away at the flesh and also safe for the living the handle if they cared to touch the deceased. Various chemical compounds and powers can work for up to a year after death and with the implication of cold temperatures the body could remain perfectly preserved for even longer. Victor considered the fact that Edgar had been embalmed and the fact it had been cold for the past few days due to the constant rain. 'I could probably hold off for a few days so that everyone's suspicion can dissipate', he thought to himself. A smile cracked his face. It almost felt like he were never to smile again a few hours before, but soon everyone will see that life will prevail over death and that everything will be okay.

Just as he thought, his mother came in an hour or so after dinner concluded to check up on him and bring him cookies. After another hour, his father visited with him to talk about the happier times Victor and Edgar had together. Before Mr. Frankenstein left his room he informed him that he had gotten a call from the man who accompanied Mrs. Harris at the funeral that Mrs. Harris would be leaving for her home in Texas to spend a week or so with her parents. Her husband was deployed at the time and she could use the support of her family during this hard time. 'Well then, she'll be happier when she gets back', he thought, smirking internally.

After Victor got his pajamas on and settled into bed, he laid awake for hours plotting the actions he would be taking in just a few days. He could hear his door squeak open from time to time. He'd close his eyes and pretend to be sleeping until he was sure either his Mother or Father was done checking for the presence of their son in his room. Once the coast was clear he'd turn on his back and stare at the ceiling, pondering ceaselessly about every minute detail to ensure a seamless execution would take place. Sleep did not find him until the small hours of the morning.

Now it had been three days since Edgar had been laid to rest when Victor finally started to sense that the suspicion around him was waning. A few folks around town still looked at him with an odd eye, but Victor was not concerned with them. It was his parents he had to escape from to recover Edgar's body. 'Tomorrow night,' Victor contemplated to himself. 'Tomorrow night'. He had not realized it, but the intricate particulars of his plan were slowly beginning to consume him.

The rain had never ceased since the burial. Parts around New Holland had become flooded. The characteristic Pet Cemetery was about the only place in town unaffected by the downpour as it sat upon a hill. The same could not be said about the New Holland Memorial Park where Edgar was entered. The section of town it was located in was shut down as the street before it had become a lake. Many of the graves in the New Holland Memorial Park were actually above ground tombs as the town itself had flooded in many times in the past to a point that the coffins previously secured in the ground bubbled up to the surface, exposing the bodies within them. Perhaps this could more of a positive note for Victor as Edgar was buried rather than entombed.

It was Friday night. The rain had started to subside, though it was still sprinkling at times and lightly raining at other points. Victor had told his parents he was turning in early for the night. He claimed that he had contracted a headache and stated that perhaps sleep would cause the pain to ebb. After an hour or so, his parents had taken to drink while watching a movie. Not long after that the movie had ended did they retreat to their bedroom. His father checked on his son once more then followed his wife. Once it was evident his parents would not be leaving their room anytime soon, Victor set out to commence his ghoulish task.

Normally, during this day and time of night the streets would still be alive with activity, but tonight the streets were as quiet as a tomb. The wind had started to blow a little, but it was presumed by a meteorologist on the 9 o'clock news that later that evening gusts and even more rain would rock the town. Just yet, the wind was calm and the clouds gently sprinkled droplets of water atop Victor's head. He had a larger toy wagon he pulled along behind him containing a spade, a long rope, a large burlap sack and a blanket. The wheels had been oiled down beforehand to prevent squeaking. As he made his way carefully towards the cemetery, he watched every move he made. He would duck to evade detection when the occasional car drove by and slither behind large objects should someone on foot come close.

Finally, he stood before the gates of the New Holland Memorial park, a lake of stagnant water blocking his path. After a few moments of thought, Victor placed his wagon in between two large hedges on a deserted yard directly across from the front gates to the cemetery. It was a sound hiding place and after picking up the shovel and the length of rope, he waded through the waist high water. Once he reached the gates, the land pitched up a bit, and it was possible to make the rest of the way to his destination on foot.

Victor reflected upon the newly placed headstone of Edgar E. Gore. There was the model of Mrs. Harris' bike that she gifted him just around a week and a half ago placed delicately on the top of the tombstone. There were also fresh carnations located near the head of the grave, no doubt that Mrs. Harris had visited the site before she left for Texas. Victor kneeled and touched the etched stone's words, feeling the valleys the on the face of it with his finger. The epitaph read: 'If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever'. Feeling a wave of emotion, Victor closed his eyes, trying to smother his tears from falling. Upon opening them, a flicker of fervent determination ignited within them.

"I'm busting you out, buddy," Victor declared out loud.

Upon standing up, Victor carefully moved the flowers to the side. He then took his spade and shoveled out the first scoop of graveyard soil. The mud was far easier to move than the firm soil of Sparky's grave. After a few more shovelful's, water had pooled in the hole he had just created. This did not discourage him however. He used the shovel to evacuate the water out of the grave in response to this setback. The work now had become tedious, but failure was not an option. Victor had to keep digging. The work was daunting. He could feel his hands begin to blister at the points that the stress of the wood of the spade had rubbed as he toiled. Still he continued with vehement willpower. Finally, though he was himself sinking into the hole, Victor discovered that Edgar had met him half way. Like in times before, the flood had brought Edgar's casket closer to the surface. He smiled insanely at the light blue box. Using the rope, he attempted to haul the coffin out of the grave.

The coffin was immensely heavy. Though Victor was unsure why this was, he devised a plan to create a makeshift pulley system using the rope he brought and the headstones around him. Once rigged up, Victor walked backward while pulling the rope and while using his to counter the pull, lowered himself in the hole. Finally, the coffin slid gradually upwards and out of the grave. Victor pulled once more to ensure the entire coffin rested on the grass.

Victor tried to pry the lid open with his hands, but he had to turn to his shovel to finish the job. After a few failed attempts, the sound of a snap signaled the container was opened. Upon opening the casket, Victor found the reason why it was so heavy. Water had seeped into it. Edgar's face lay submerged beneath the water, looking like some spectral vision. The cosmetic makeup intended to make Edgar look more lifelike during his wake had dissolved away. A twinge of tremendous terror shot up his spine temporarily. Shaking his head in a tempt to rid himself of such an emotion, he carefully pulled Edgar out of the waterlogged coffin. His body was completely stiff, which made both ghastly to work with and a little easier to maneuver. Using the blanket that Mrs. Harris had wrapped Edgar in the night of his viewing as a sled, Victor pulled his body to the front gate of the cemetery, across the body of water to a location near the hedges where he could load the body into the wagon and secure it. Victor gingerly put Edgar in the burlap sack and covered the form with the blanket he had brought along with him. He then proceeded to walk the rest of the lonely way to his home to complete the procedure to bring Edgar back from the dead. A lonely church bell rang out in the distance three times.

The trip home was nerve wracking, but nobody came across the lone boy pulling something wrapped in a blanket on a toy wagon. Once home, Victor pulled his cargo into his backyard. A fraction of relief came across Victor. As he pulled the cart closer to the backdoor, the sound of a low growl broke Victor's concentration. Sparky was inside his doghouse looking at Victor furiously.

"It's ok, boy. No one here except me and Edgar," he said, patting the mass covered in a canvas bag with a toothy smile.

The dog, sat eyeing Victor from the dog house, still rumbling in irritation. Victor chalked the behavior of the animal to suspicion of the strange large object and nothing more. He unloaded the payload, unlocked the backdoor with a key he had brought along on the journey and opened it. Sliding Edgar's frame up to the attic, Victor shut the door behind him. It was then that the rain began falling considerably again and the wind picked up, howling like some creature of the damned in the dark of the night.


	7. Reanimation

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Seven:

Reanimation

Victor thanked his lucky stars for the storm that was now churning just outside. He had begun to believe that the series of conveniences that he had experienced throughout the night were signs from some higher authority that his mission was of a sacred undertaking. The wind and rain had picked up so rapidly and aggressively that there would be no possibility that his parents would hear any of the noises that would be emanating from the attic in just a few minutes, another blessing to be counted amongst the others that seemed almost miraculous to have occurred. As the tempest kicked up its furry outside, Victor donned his clean white lab coat, black rubber gloves, and goggles. He was ready to begin his experiment.

However, when attempting to rest Edgar's body on the slab on which he would be hopefully resurrected on, Victor met with some difficulty in doing so at first. With the aid of a tie down he fashioned out of a jump rope, the slab was kept from scooting away from him, and he was able to hoist the still form onto it with no further complications. He draped Edgar in a white cotton sheet and fastened some belts around him securing him to the table on which he laid. This was to prevent his body from falling over the side in case something went awry.

After jotting down a few notes into his log regarding the couple of changes observed during this current experiment that differed from the previous two, Victor grabbed three kites he would use to draw in the lightning that he used to revive the dead in his past experiments. He proceeded to climb up the ladder that led to the roof from the attic. Upon opening the door hatch, Victor peered out with fevered jubilation, observing the black sky as it lit up with constant luminous flashes of lightning and listened to the violent claps of thunder that followed. He then let loose the assorted patterned kites into the air from his hands and watched them being tossed mercilessly about in the ragged sky, an appalling smirk graced his face.

"Come on storm! Ha ha ha! Bring forth your true fury!" he yelled into the raging wind with his arms extended, all the while laughing madly.

The storm, as if responding to Victor's words, complied. The wind and rain picked up so heavily and harshly that it felt like thousands of needles were piercing the flesh of Victor's exposed face and neck. He had to retreat back inside the attic and descend the ladder with great swiftness to escape the pounding wind and tormenting downpour just above him.

As he proceeded to turn on all the appliances in the attic, he inspected them to see if they were in proper working order. After everything checked out to be functioning correctly, he walked over to the deceased child lying still on the table.

"No worries, Edgar. I love you like I would love my brother. You'll be awake again soon and you can be with your true mother once again. You can enjoy life as you should have been doing all along," he said, whispering into the pallid unhearing ears. After taking one last look up at the open ceiling hatch, Victor began to hoist the body up using the rigging system he had carefully made weeks ago. Once up at the top, all Victor had to do was wait.

His wait was not a long one, for the rampant squall had reached its maximum furry and power. A magnificent bolt of lightning connected with the kites whipping in the brutal wind and traveled down their lines to the slab which they were attached to. Victor could feel the charge in the air spike and witnessed gorgeous sparks of white radiating from the table suspended above him. His heart instantaneously began to beat faster and faster in excitement amid the deafening roar of thunder. Those were the beautiful sparks of life.

Once Victor was sure the first jolt was sufficient enough that Edgar would be awakened, he attempted to slowly lower the body from the rooftop. That's when, unexpectedly, a second bolt of lightning had struck the kites, sending another current of electricity careening down to the slab and through the chain Victor was grasping. Though the gloves were a sufficient barrier to protect Victor from the high jolt of power, the subsequent force emitted from the metal chain as the electricity grounded itself was enough to forcefully knock him backwards a few feet. Surprised, he looked upwards as another set of brilliant sparks trickled downward towards him. Acting fast, he jumped to his feet, ran to the chain and pulled it downward, causing the body of Edgar to descend downward quickly but at a controlled pace. Once the table had been lowered down to a certain point, the hatch door closed automatically behind it, securely shutting out the wicked elements outside. With his heart pounding in his chest, Victor was unsure what the second dose of electricity might have done to change the outcome in his experiment.

Once the body was set firmly on the ground, Victor ran to its side, unfastened the safety belts rapidly, and pulled the white shroud off that was covering Edgar's body. Smoke steamed up from it as it laid on the floor while Victor looked into Edgar's motionless face for signs of life.

"Edgar?! Edgar?!" he yelled as he attempted frantically to awaken him.

Victor waited a moment longer when tears began to well up in his eyes. What if the second jolt rendered the process of reanimating Edgar ineffective? What if he was to remain dead forever? How would he explain his actions to the others once they found Edgar's grave disturbed? What would his parents and Mrs. Harris think? All these questioned flashed madly in his aching brain in an instant.

"Edgar?" he asked one last time, his voice choked up, tears streaming down his face. He waited for a response.

Suddenly, Edgar lurched forward and gasped, taking in his first breath after being brought back from the dead. He coughed dryly as he began to move, clutching his throat. Such a sudden movement scared the wits out of Victor at first, but seeing his friend moving again soon turned his fears into tremendous joy.

"Edgar! You're alive!" hollered Victor, "YOU'RE ALIVE!" he shouted a second time.

"Watteerr… "said Edgar in a dry raspy voice, looking at Victor pleadingly.

Victor ran to a table close by and grabbed a glass of water he had poured for himself at the beginning of the experiment but never drank. Running it back to Edgar, he helped his friend to a sitting position and handed the cup to him.

Edgar drank the entire volume of water within the once full glass. He motioned to Victor that the amount he had just drunk was sufficient to satisfy his thirst at the moment. Victor had to sit down because he was left in such a state utter amazement and fascination that his legs could no longer bear his weight at the moment. Once he plopped down with a thud, he looked up at Edgar's face carefully in an attempt to convince himself that the events happening before him were true events based in reality and not in some vivid dream.

"How do you feel, Edgar? Are you in any pain?" asked Victor once the novelty of the whole situation was replaced by concern for Edgar's health.

"I feel… dizzy, but I feel alright," he said now as he used one of his deformed hands to rub his head.

"What happened?" Edgar asked, looking at Victor now with curiosity.

"Well… I don't know how to explain this to you just yet, but I might be able to a little better if you can tell me the last couple of things you remembered before you woke up here first," Victor said, taking a kneeling stance while looking up at Edgar. After a moment of thinking in silence, Edgar began to explain his last recollections.

"I was at home. I had just got home from school after you guys walked me halfway. My Mother was home, but she wasn't happy to see me. I think she had been drinking that smelly stuff before I got home. It always made her act funny. I went into my room and laid down. I woke up the next day and my chest was really hurting bad. I went to tell my Mother about it, but she just yelled at me and grabbed my hand and put me back in my room. I didn't want to go, but she just sort of dragged me there. My wrist hurt a lot when she did that," Edgar rubbed his left wrist with his other hand after saying that. He paused for a moment to think about what happened next.

"I was sleeping a lot after that and I had a lot of trouble breathing. I got up a few times to go to the bathroom and to look for my Mother, but it was getting harder and harder for me to stand up and she was nowhere in the house. I went back to my room to lay down again. I didn't want to eat or drink because it only made my tummy feel sick. I don't remember what time it was after that. The very last thing I can remember was seeing you in my room. I can't remember why you were there, you just were. Also, I remember… pain. A terrible pain in my chest," Edgar said, looking at Victor with obvious hurt etched onto his face.

Victor closed his eyes in disgust at what he had just heard. So that's how Edgar got so horribly sick so quickly. She left him to die alone at home in his room instead of getting the help he so desperately needed. He clenched his fist tightly, causing his knuckles to pop under the pressure. With Edgar back to give his statements to the police, custody could be readily given to Mrs. Harris and life could start anew for Edgar. Victor opened his eyes, stood up and hugged Edgar tightly. A little confused, he hugged back.

"Edgar," Victor said, still hugging his dear friend, "You died that night I came to your house. You were so sick that I couldn't save you then. You've been dead for almost a week and a half now. I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you, but it's going to be okay now because you're alive again. I saved you this time."After Victor let go of Edgar to face him, an expression of utter shock filled Edgar's entire face. He sat quietly for a moment, letting the words Victor just said sink in.

"Where is my Mom?" Edgar queried as tears began to fall down his cheeks. A hint of fear could be detected in his words.

"Your Mom is in jail right now. I think they found enough evidence to put her in there for a long long time," replied Victor, standing fully erect now to place a hand on Edgar's protruding back.

"No, not her. Mrs. Harris. Where is she?" Edgar asked anxiously as he began to break down in a fit of fear and confusion. His shoulders heaved as he wept into his hands. "Where is she?" he asked again with a squeak. Victor bent over to embrace him in hopes his friend would be comforted.

"She's in Texas right now, Edgar. She had to go home to visit her parents because when she lost you it broke her heart. But you're back now. When she returns in a week or so you two can be together again and this time she can be your Mother and you can be her son. She still loves you to no end, Edgar. There's never been any doubt about that," Victor said as soothingly as he could to calm his trembling companion.

The impact of his gentle words took an obvious effect on Edgar immediately. Though he was still crying a little, he was not shaking so badly now. As Victor let go of Edgar, Edgar looked around the attic that he had gotten to know so well.

"So… it's official," Edgar said with a sniff, "You've become a mad scientist."

Victor couldn't help but chuckle. It felt good that his little friend had retained his sense of humor despite all he had been through. Without a shadow of a doubt, Victor's experiment of bringing a human being back from the grave was a resounding success. Seeing that Victor was laughing, Edgar could not help but join him in his merriment. Out of nowhere, the two started laughing in hysterical cheerfulness, one fueling the other to laugh even harder. After it seemed as though their revelry was about to come to an end, Edgar threw out his arms and exclaimed, "I got hit by lightning!"

"See? You were in the land of opportunity, my friend!" Victor hooted, his sides beginning to hurt from laughing so hard.

"This man was in the way!" Edgar pointed to himself and threw up his arms again dramatically while yelling "BOOM!"

"AAAAHHH, ha ha ha ha!" responded Victor as he giggle snorted, which made the two nearly roll about the floor in a fit of hilarity. Victor had not laughed like that in what felt like ages. Oh, what a surprise everyone will have in the morning.

Edgar and Victor spent some time catching up now. Victor reported all the happenings that went on while Edgar was 'asleep'. They both preferred that term versus "dead" because it felt like it was the better word to use. He described in detail how the funeral went and how Nassor spoke at the wake, poking gentle fun at him for how he always sounded like he was speaking at funeral even when he was not most of the time. He told Edgar about how it seemed like every biker in the town had shown up and how it made the principal look worried to be around the group. Then, he told Edgar about Mrs. Harris and how she had so lovingly tucked him in and just how much pain it looked like she was going through. Edgar wiped a few more tears from his eyes before he spoke.

"I can't wait until I get to see her again, Victor," he said as he laid down and looked up at the ceiling. Victor followed suit.

"She's really going to be happy to have you back again. The best part about it is that you'll be all hers this time," Victor smiled, pleased at such happy thoughts.

"Yea. I wish she was here now. Then she would ride me to her house on that big old bike of hers," he yawned as he turned on his side. "And we will live as a happy family, me, her, and Mr. Harris."

Victor yawned now also while turning over to face the door to the attic, Victor blinked slowly before shutting his eyes.

"Yea. It's going to be great, Edgar. It's really going to be great."

And with that, the two boys fell asleep on the floor, the sound of heavy rain pattering against the roof tiles drifted them into a deep sleep. The night's excitement had now fizzled out. Both Victor and Edgar wore smiles on their faces as they slept, dreaming of the happier times to come.


	8. Revelation

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Eight:

Revelation

As morning broke upon New Holland, the ravages of the storm the night before were evident among the broken tree branches on the ground and hefty puddles of water. After so many days without the sun, the light that peeped from the horizon lit up sleepy town, bringing a welcomed change. A couple of the inhabitants remarked upon the beauty of this particular dawn. A jogger had passed the Frankenstein home, unaware of the miracle that had taken place just hours before.

Victor was the first to wake up. When he sat up, he had to crack his back as he was feeling pretty stiff now from sleeping on the wooden floor in the attic. He peered around and caught the sight of Edgar sleeping in a cozy little ball not far from where he was sitting. The child jerked a few times in his sleep and grumbled some incoherent words as he turned on to his other side. Victor couldn't help but give a smile. His smile was short lived for now he had to think of a proper way to tell his parents that his classmate was now back in the land of the living. After some time, he had an idea.

When he walked down the stairs, he listened carefully for any signs that his parents might be awake. He heard some rustling in the kitchen. He peeked from around a corner to see what was going on. His father was up sipping coffee and reading the morning paper while his mother worked on her latest meal on the stove. Finding the courage to walk forth, he left his position and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, sport," his father said cheerfully. "How'd you sleep last night?"

Victor's eyes were tired, but energetic. He stood still in the doorframe, a smile upon his lips. His father looked to his wife and once eye contact was made between them, both looked to their son.

"Mom, Dad, I have a surprise for you, but you have to promise not to freak out," he said at last.

His father's eyes became round with mistrust. His mother's face matched that of his father.

"What do you mean 'freak out'?" Mr. Frankenstein asked with an uncomfortable tone.

"Follow me," Victor said in return.

As both his parents walked up stairs to the attic above, they seemed nervous, almost frightful. They knew what their son had done up there weeks ago. Though they were certain that their close watch on their son in the days before prevented something other than what their worst fears might imply, they were still afraid what may lie before them.

Before they could make it half way up the stairs, Mr. Frankenstein stopped, his wife behind him followed suit.

"Son, what is the meaning of this?" Mr. Frankenstein demanded.

Victor, seeing his father's eyes glimmer with doubt, sighed.

"Dad, Mom, I know you two didn't exactly like my experiment with Sparky, but I'm going to show you once and for all that my work can be used for other bigger things and for the greater good. My science teacher once told me that science can be used for great good, and that is what I intend to show you today," Victor said in a calm, but direct way.

The color left the both his mother and father's faces, fading to a chalk white. They peered uneasily into the attic for what they could see. Though they both wanted to say so much, nothing left their lips. Neither would budge further. Seeing this, Victor walked calmly straight to the portion of the room that was draped for privacy. Their eyes intensely followed every move he made. Once Victor disappeared behind the curtain, their breath nearly ceased as their hearts thundered in their chests.

It was not long before Victor appeared again, a wide smile upon his face. They could just bearly make out a shadow of a small figure that casted upon the curtain. His parents began to tremble.

"Come on out," Victor said to the shape.

As he stepped aside to allow whatever it was behind the blinds to come forth, his parents nearly gasped in sheer horror to see that the child who not but a week and half ago was pronounced dead step into their view. Mrs. Frankenstein had to cover her mouth to keep a scream from leaving her gapping mouth. Mr. Frankenstein retorted back, his face blazing with shock.

"Edgar's back, Mom and Dad. There's nothing to be afraid of. He's still the same person he was before he fell asleep. I have defeated death!" he exclaimed, feeling the utter power of the words he was saying. Edgar looked at the two shuttering adults. He cowered a little, trying to make himself seem smaller somehow. His eyes darted back and forth at them, before fixing his gaze unsteadily at Victor. He began fidgeting his fingers nervously.

"Oh my God, help me! This can't be happening!" Mrs. Frankenstein finally cried out before covering her mouth again with her shaking hand.

Edgar, surprised by the volume of her voice took a few steps back, his legs shaking fiercely now. Victor looked back at his friend. He moved toward Edgar and placed a hand on his shoulder looking back at his parents angrily.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Mother! He's been through a lot lately and this isn't helping!" He yelled back at her. Finally, Victor's father advanced hastily to the top of the stairs.

"Victor, this is very very serious! You can't be doing this! Death is not something you can just toy around with! Why would you even do something so… so… EVIL?!" Victor's Father's voice boomed in the small room.

Victor took a few steps forward, his face alive with determined fury.

"What I did was not EVIL," he shouted. "For thousands of years now, we who are living have been trying to conquer death. Doctors and nurses do that every day! What is so different about what I have done with Sparky and Edgar from what those people who work in the ER do every time they go to work? They spit in the face of death as a profession! I have found something in this world that will make death something that never has to happen! I have found something that will make this world a better place and all you have to say about it is that it's 'evil'? How dare you!" Victor's cheeks became wet with the tears of his fury. Edgar now stood behind Victor, unsure of wither he should run or hide.

Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein paused for a moment. It was not certain if this was due to repulsion, anger, sadness, shock, or in contemplation, but for certain the uneasy quiet that fell upon those in that attic space lasted for what seemed like hours. Edgar was trembling terrified behind Victor. He was not sure of his fate and wanted desperately for the whole ordeal to be over as quickly and as safely as possible.

Finally, it was Victor's father who stepped forth.

"Edgar?" his directed in a soft voice at the trembling boy.

Edgar looked from behind Victor, shuddering terribly. He gulped as he stepped forth, his hands drawn inward in an attempt to hide his shivering hands. Once out in the open, Victor's father stood fully erect, looking at Edgar. Mrs. Frankenstein took a few steps up the stairs, her fears still present, but dulled to get a better look at this curious child who was brought back from the dead.

"How… how are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

Edgar looked to Victor, who nodded his head towards him, reassuring him it would be safe to answer.

"I'm feeling… alright," he answered with a blink.

Victor's parent's faces softened up a bit. They looked at each other and, seemingly coming to their own conclusions through clairvoyant powers, invited both Victor and Edgar down for breakfast.

The breakfast was extremely silent as all those present were mulling their ideas and thoughts over in their heads. After a while, a calm conversation was had about what Edgar had seen in the world beyond and how he was feeling about being back. After it was made very clear that he had not seeing anything of the here-after other than the feeling of being in a deep sleep and confirming that he was feeling well, they conversed about how they would be breaking the news to the others in town. They decided that Elsa should be brought over followed by her uncle, the Mayor of New Holland. All knew it was out of their control as to how the rest of the public would react, but what they had down was an excellent start.

As Victor spoke with Elsa on the phone, Edgar sat at the table watching him. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein exchanged glances with him as Victor concluded his talk with her.

"She's heading over right now. She'll go over to Mr. Burgermister's house after we show her Edgar and we'll see what happens from there. The others nodded and waited for her to show up.

Since Elsa had ridden to Victor's house on her bike, she arrived much sooner than anticipated. Victor was the one who greeted her upon hearing her chime their door bell. Once Victor gave her admittance, she was escorted to the kitchen where the others were seated.

Elsa's first reaction to seeing Edgar sitting at the table was one they all expected, though she managed to emit a scream. Victor quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

"Shh! There's nothing to worry about, Elsa. It's just Edgar."

After confirming that she would not be screaming again, Victor uncovered Elsa's mouth and let her go. She stood unbelieving for a moment before a slight smile emerged on her lips.

"Edgar? Is that really you?" she asked, squinting at him.

Now finding the attention amusing, Edgar giggled a little and smiled.

"No, I'm the big bad wolf, Elsa!" he exclaimed with a growl, flexing his fingers to make them look creepy.

"Yup, that's you alright," she said in a voice of cheerful disbelief.

"I guess some things will never change," added Mr. Frankenstein, his fears now replaced by amazed curiosity. Edgar smiled at him with his three protruding teeth.

"I can't believe you were able to pull this off, Victor. This is going to make everything right again, you know that?" Elsa beamed as she spoke.

"Yeah. That's why I did it," Victor replied, folding his arms in a sarcastic attempt to make himself look epic.

Elsa giggled at his playful mockery, sneaking in a quick kiss, landing it on Victor's joyful lips. He couldn't help the goofy expression that materialized on his face or the deep red his cheeks had turned. Edgar simply pointed at Victor and started to laugh. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein just looked at each other with great smiles upon their faces. After a few moments, the purpose of the visit was focused upon again.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Elsa asked, looking at Victor.

"I think that since your uncle ended up liking the idea that Sparky came back, it would be a good idea to break the news to him first. He also knows how to deal with the media, what being the Mayor and all. Maybe he can break the news to the world that Edgar came back from the dead in a way that wouldn't incite a riot," Victor said as he stroked his chin with a finger in thought.

"I think that's a good enough approach," Elsa replied.

With some more deliberation on how to carry out the plan, Elsa walked next door to her uncle's house. A great hush fell upon those in the Frankenstein house as they waited. Victor was the first to see Elsa and her uncle walking up the driveway. He got up to answer the door once again.

When they finally introduced Edgar to Mr. Burgemeister, the reaction was just as expected as Elsa had reacted. Fear took hold of the man until he was eventually calmed down by the same reasonable argument that Victor had said to his parents earlier and once Victor demonstrated that Edgar was still the same child he was before his death, the man of office began to settle down a little. He stood speechless for a good matter of time listening as Victor talked, only asking a few questions here and there.

"So, do you feel alright, my boy?" Mr. Burgemeister asked Edgar in his usual gruff tone of voice.

"I feel just fine," Edgar replied, shooting him his most charismatic smile he could muster. Needless to say, it didn't matter if Edgar was alive or dead, Mr. Burgemeister shuddered a little at that expression on his face.

"Well, Victor, this is quite an accomplishment. I will go to press about this, but I would still like to keep this on the down low for a little while. I just want to see how this plays out. I'm sure this will become one of the most significant findings in recent history, but we need to make certain everything works out well first. We'll give it a month to see if there are any side effects that might emerge. I don't want my town to be run over by any freaks again, you see. Take down as many notes about what you find and when you feel your research is complete, we will break the big news to the rest of the world," said the Mayor, starting to look awestruck that this groundbreaking scientific finding was discovered in his town. Already he was dreaming of the big press conferences he would be having. His town will be on the map for sure now!

As the news spread across the town of New Holland, both shock, horror, and curiosity rang out. The Mayor had decided to make the claim that due to an incident that involved a new medical breakthrough, a child was mysteriously revived after being first pronounced dead. The details were skimpy, but the reasoning for this was well understood by everyone in the town. The adults in this small community knew better and they knew not to breathe a word of this occurrence to the outside world. They enjoyed their little town being quiet despite the wishes of the Mayor. This was certainly how the news of a giant tortoise and a flying mutant cat wreaking havoc upon the town did not make national or worldwide news. Nothing more would be said about this new incident and that was that.

Though everyone in the town had received the information about Edgar, one was not made aware. Mrs. Harris was still gone on her trip to Texas. As Mr. Burgemiester attempted to contact her through her parents, it was made very clear that she would be departed from New Holland a few more days than expected. She was on a long road trip on her motorcycle, her parents revealed. It was clear she wanted to be left alone as this would be a soul searching time for the young woman as her anticipated role of becoming Edgar's mother was torn from her when he had died. It was her own way of dealing with loss as she had experienced many times before. Her parents promised that if they heard from their elusive daughter they'd let her know that the Mayor of New Holland wanted to speak with her. He did not mention anything about Edgar coming back to life to the people on the phone. As Mr. Burgemeister hung up the phone, he sighed, turning his head to look at both Victor and Edgar.

"Is she coming soon?" asked Edgar, moving his hands in anticipation.

"I'm sorry, Edgar. Mrs. Harris is out on the open road. Her parents said that she's still real torn up about what happened. I guess her form of coping is riding on her bike, which is going to make it hard for us to try and get a hold of her. I'm sure the second she hears that you're back she'll turn her bike around and make it here as fast as she can. I'm certain of this," the old politician said, trying to be as comforting as possible.

Edgar sat there quietly for a while. After accepting this minor setback, he smiled.

"I bet she'll burn the roads up when she does," he finally remarked.

"Hah, I bet she will, my boy, I bet she will!" bellowed the Mayor.

As the long day came to a close, Victor's parents allowed Edgar to stay at their home their guest bedroom. Instead of sleep however, the boys decided to read some of the comics Victor had collected over the years. Most of the short movies he had put together with Sparky were inspired by the content on the pages of his prized collection. As the boys chuckled and reenacted some of the stories they had just read using pillows and blankets as props, Sparky the dog was watching them carefully from under Victor's desk. The animal had been watching their every move and all the while he was growling in a low tone. Neither boy had detected the sounds.


	9. Sparky

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Nine:

Sparky

That very first Monday, Edgar decided he wanted to go back to school. He made it clear to everyone that he didn't want to be treated differently just because of the circumstances surrounding his return to the living. As far as he was concerned, he was the same exact kid. He also had figured, as he told Victor and his parents, that Mrs. Harris would be proud of him if he returned early back to his studies. After some deliberation between Edgar, Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein, Victor, and the school officials, an agreement was made that under close observation, Edgar could return. He would, of course, have to be feeling well enough to attend as well as be able to perform what was asked of him from his instructors. That day before school would start, Edgar reconfirmed he was ready to go back and thus proceeded to get ready.

The next morning was far cooler now than the two days prior to this one. Fog had moved into the streets and the morning dew sat carefully on the blades of grass or leaves they had formed on. Victor stood outside at his backdoor for a moment, taking a deep breath in to enjoy the freshness this new day had brought. Exhaling, he watched his breath dissipate above his head.

Victor had begun to make his way to Sparky's doghouse when something unexpected and peculiar happened that left him flabbergasted. This morning Sparky did not greet him as he always would do. Victor, perplexed, decided to peer into the doghouse to see what was the matter. He could hear Sparky growling from inside, but since it was still quite early in the morning, he could not quite see into the quarters his dog was hiding in.

"Sparky?" Victor called out.

His voice must have irritated the animal, for the growling had become a bit louder and a bit fiercer. Victor stood up and called out again.

"Sparky? What's the matter boy? It's just me, Victor," he said, taking a step forward.

The dog then emerged from his hiding place and looked at Victor, his teeth bared in a menacing threat display. Victor took a step back.

"Sparky… come on boy. I'm not going to hurt you," Victor's voice cracked with a hint of fear now.

The animal looked away for a moment, looking as though he were thinking about something. He then looked up at Victor, whose face bore the signs of his concern. Sparky's ears turn backward, his tail fell between his legs and his head lowered.

"Sparky?" Victor kneeled down now, and offered the dog his hand.

Sparky looked around once room, seemingly confused as to where he was. Once his focus was back on Victor, Victor could hear the animal whimper. It was a low sad whimper that concerned the boy greatly.

"You're not in pain, are you boy?" Victor drew closer.

The dog finally walked gingerly up to the boy, looking as though something were wrong. Victor drew Sparky close to his body and hugged him. As Sparky let out one more whimper, he scratched behind his ears.

"Don't worry boy, we'll figure out what's wrong. Are you going to be alright until I come home?" said Victor, looking into the eyes of his beloved pet. Sparky began to wag his tail again and it all seemed to be alright again. This confused Victor, though. He bid farewell to his friend and walked inside, taking one more glance at his dog. Sparky looked at him, panting now happily. After rolling his eyes playfully, Victor dismissed the strange behavior once again.

"Hey, Mom, could you keep an eye on Sparky today? I don't think he's feeling too good. He was growling at me when I went to see him this morning. It's really weird," said Victor as he took his place at the breakfast table.

"Sure, honey. I bet it's just the cold weather that's getting to him. Sometimes it can make dogs and people ache in their bones or joints. That would make anybody more than a little bit cranky. We can keep him inside the house tonight if you like, sweetie," she answered as she was wiping off a dish with a towel.

It wasn't long before Edgar and Mr. Frankenstein came down to join Victor and his Mother for breakfast. They made small talk for the most part with Mr. Frankenstein giving Edgar some tips on how not to act nervous and what he might expect after what all had happened. Once breakfast was over, both Edgar and Victor readied themselves for school and took off on foot.

Once the two boys entered the play ground, the students in the yard went quiet. They were all looking towards Edgar and Victor with fascination and fear. Edgar took a deep breath in and stepped forth with Victor at his side towards the place behind the monkey bars where Elsa Van Helsing was already waiting.

"Right on time as usual," she remarked, trying to make the fact that everyone was looking at them now.

As Victor sat down beside Elsa, Edgar took to standing in front of them, his back towards the gazing eyes of the students. It was Elsa who first noticed that Bob and Toshiaki were walking towards them, their hands in their pockets.

"Heads up guys," she warned.

Both Toshiaki and Bob stopped right next to Edgar. Edgar kept his eyes focused on the rock wall directly behind Victor and Elsa, trying to keep his anxiety down. He wasn't sure what to expect.

"So… Hiya Edgar," Toshiaki said, now also looking at the wall in front of him. Bob peeked at Edgar from beside Toshiaki, bending as far as he could without looking too out of place.

"Uh, hi, Toshiaki," Edgar said with a squeak as he looked beside him at the Asian boy.

"How's'a everything going?" Toshiaki pivoted to look at the Edgar beside him.

"Fine. Just fine. Glad to be back," Edgar's words spoken fast and with voice full of mistrust. He remembered that though, for the most part, Toshiaki could be a really nice guy, he had some reservations on what his intentions were just yet.

"Good. Me anda Bob heard about the trouble thata happened to you. We are very asorry for any trouble we gavea you before," Toshiaki's eyes were sincere. Edgar, Elsa, and Victor were more than a little surprised about this change in behavior, but they all understood why this had come to be. Maybe Toshiaki wasn't such a bad guy after all. Edgar blinked slowly and thought for a moment before he said anything.

"Its… it's alright Toshi. Maybe we all can be all better together?" Edgar said, his head cocked slightly to the side waiting for a response.

"Thata would be good!" replied Toshiaki. The smile on his face could not be any wider.

"Maybe we can all hang out after school, you know, to watch the big game we're having?" Bob added, his plump cheeks jiggled a little with each word he spoke.

As Edgar looked back at Victor and Elsa for guidance, he seemed a little confused as to what to do next.

"That sounds great, Bob. I think this will be a good way to show the other kids that Edgar is just like any other kid here," Victor said, standing up.

"Thata sounds exerrent! We hang out aftera school tonight!" exclaimed the Toshiaki as he held up a pointed finger high in the air to further pronounce his delight. Toshiaki's accent made Elsa smile a little.

As the five kids spoke about what the game would be like later that day, Edgar looked and noticed Weird Girl standing ominously next to the big oak tree that Toshiaki and Bob usually stood under. Her transfixed gaze gave him the creeps. Breaking his eye contact with her, he also spied Nassor looking towards his group as he sat at his usual place by the converted tire chairs. The look on his face was far more accepting then Weird Girl's. His intensely serious eyes were focused on him, but they did not seem to be at all threatening. As he blinked slowly, he tilted his head up briefly as if to say 'hello', then waited for Edgar's response. Edgar obliged and did the same gesture. Though Nassor did not join the small group of excited children behind the monkey bars, Edgar felt more at ease now knowing he at least had three new friends plus Victor and Elsa on his side. His heart felt warm as he sighed in relief. His return was not one to be dreaded after all.

Class itself was not at all that much different. Mr. Rzykruski welcomed Edgar back and went along his lessons as usual. Victor could not be happier to have his best friend back after so long a time without him. Victor felt like he could focus more on the material now, though his attention at times drifted to thinking about Sparky. He hoped that it really was just the cold weather affecting his dear companion and not something more serious.

When the lunch bell rang, Mr. Rzykruski asked Victor, Edgar, and Elsa to stay behind with him for a bit. He and children spoke about the experiments Victor had done to achieve this 'victory over death'. For the most part, Mr. Rzykruski already knew what Victor had done from his presentation at the science fair. He decided to see what was presented there to further support the students in his class as well as to see what discoveries were made by the 6th graders. Victor went over the changes and mishaps while the gentle old teacher listened. Elsa and Edgar chimed in from time to time, but for the most part Victor was the one doing all the talking. As Mr. Rzykruski opened the door to release them for lunch before there would be no time for them to eat at all, he reminded Victor to keep close tabs on his experiments and to write down all the data he could find. With that, Elsa, Victor, and Edgar joined Toshiaki and Bob outside for the remainder of the lunch period.

After school was let at out at the final bell of the day, the five kids joined up just outside the class, this time joined by Nassor. After talking over about how the game would be held at around 5 o'clock and where to meet up just before then, Victor dawned on a great idea. He would go back home to fetch Sparky so he and the others can enjoy the game together, this time with a much stronger leash to prevent any other mishaps from occurring. After they all had their plans in order, Victor and his friends set forth to pick up Sparky.

The dog seemed to be in a frenzy of happiness as he saw his master and friends approach the gate. His tail wagged in such a frantic manner that Victor was nearly worried the whole thing would come off like it had a few times in the past. Once he calmed his dog down, the small group of bustling youngsters slowly and playfully made their way back to the school to see their other friends play against a rival team.

The game was not off to a great start. The rival team had their bases loaded and the batter up was known for striking home runs. To boot, the scores were closely tied together as well. Toshiaki would have to work well with Nassor to prevent the other team from scoring four runs. Needless to say, those two worked very well together and though things got a little scary a moment there, they managed to make the batter strike three outs. The home team's luck changed from there and the game ended with Toshiaki and Nassor's team winning the game.

"Well, that was awesome," Victor stated, looking towards Elsa.

"Yes, it was," she replied.

Though Victor had always admired Elsa for her smarts and wit, he never really before noted her beauty. They sat there a moment or two, gazing into each other's eyes, lost in some previously unknown way. It was Elsa who blinked first that brought the two back down from space. Both turned their heads to note that Edgar, though stuffing his face with popcorn was watching the two as if it were some sort of show he had paid to watch. When he was discovered, he gave a big toothy grin, bits of popcorn stuck in his protruding teeth. Elsa playfully rolled her eyes and turned his head to face the ball field to change his focus elsewhere.

Not long after that, the three went down with Sparky to congratulate Toshiaki, Nassor, and Bob on their performance during the game. Something was odd, however. There was a decent sized group arguing about something that happened during the game. The batter that both Toshiaki and Nassor has taken out with their teamwork was claiming that the two had somehow cheated.

"I throw ball, you miss ball, you lose. Simple!" Toshiaki said in response to the other team's accusations, counting out each point he made on his fingers.

Victor and his friends had to stay back a bit to keep from being pushed and shoved. A coach was briskly making his way across the field to break up the argument. That's when it happened.

Victor had not noticed that his dog had been growling and barking the entire time, a white foamy froth dripped from the animal's gaping jaws as he reacted to such a commotion. Too much was going on the field for anyone to notice. As the batter pushed Toshiaki, Nassor reacted by placing the rowdy boy in a headlock. All hell had broken loose on the field. Victor had tried to call out to Toshiaki as it seemed he was being pummeled by the opposing team's catcher, while Nassor lifted the belligerent batter up high and slammed him to the ground with some force. Sparky's rage seemed to have come to a boiling point.

As Victor's voice cried out over the uproar, Sparky jumped and bit Victor's hand, causing him to drop the leash he was using the restrain the dog. Victor could only look to see as he held his hand as it bled that Sparky had run between those fighting on the field and, with great fury jumped to latch onto the batter's face. The child screamed out in agony as the brute tore away ceaselessly at the kid's face. Sparky used his front claws to rake at the boy's belly and chest as he attempted desperately in vain to protect himself. The fighting among the players stopped. Nassor, with all his strength, kicked the dog's side, causing him to fly sideways and roll on the ground a few times. Just as the animal had gotten back to his feet and looked as though he were going to attack again, Toshiaki stepped in. He had a bloody nose, but this only made him look all the more threatening. The creature charged again, this time at Toshiaki. With the mitt that he used to play with, Toshiaki used it as a bite protection sleeve, shielding his hand from the sharp gnashing teeth. This still wasn't enough for Sparky flung his head back, taking off the glove and exposing Toshiaki's bare hand. As he shook the mitt wildly about, the advancing coach kicked the dog a second time, this time throwing him further than Nassor had.

"You stay away, dog! You stay away!" growled the coach as he stood between the children and the beast.

Sparky stood up again, though it was obvious that the fury had escaped him at last. Victor ran towards the dog even though the coach yelled at him as he passed not to approach it. Victor looked helplessly at his cherished friend with horror and bewilderment chiseled into his eyes. Sparky looked up at Victor with mournful eyes.

"Sparky?" said Victor as a few drops of his blood dripped from the vicious wound on his hand, staining the ground beneath him.

The dog let out a few distressing whimpers before letting out a sorrowful howl that split Victor's heart in two. Then, unexpectedly, the dog took off, running as fast as he could to the main road. Victor chased after him as best as he could, but it was too late. In the very spot that Sparky had died first time, Sparky died a second time. A truck carrying rocks from a local quarry had run over him even though he had pressed the breaks. This time, there wouldn't be anything left of the creature's body to bring back.

Victor fell on his knees, tears streaming down his eyes. Elsa and Edgar quickly made their way to the quaking lad. Toshiaki, Nassor, and Bob followed not far behind them.


	10. Aftermath

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Ten:

Aftermath

To say that Victor was profoundly disturbed by what happened at the ballpark would be a gross understatement. The night that followed the attack was the most dismal, for Victor had to place Sparky back at the New Holland Pet Cemetery for a second and final time. He sat for many hours at the edge of his bed, hunched over deep in thought, wondering about what had happened to make his dog behave like that. Was it something that had lain within the animal over a long period of time, or was this something in conjunction with his resurrection? None of the questions that beat against the walls inside his head would go answered this night. After a while, he put his tortured mind to sleep. At least tomorrow would be a day off from school for everyone and hopefully a turning point for Victor.

Edgar slept downstairs that night on the couch. He decided it would be best to give Victor his space, especially from a day like today. A night on the couch wouldn't be such a bad thing either. The couch in the Frankenstein's living room was far more comfortable than his bed in his own home. As he turned on his side, he looked down at the ground, watching the dim light cast upon the floor from the DVD player just across the way from him. His mind was focused on his life when living with his mother. Anger began to creep up his deformed spine to the base of his skull. Why was he afforded such a wretched existence? Why was Victor given such a lavish life with parents who waited on his every need? He squeezed his fists tightly, something he did when he would get angry. The pain sometimes made him feel a little better in the past, but tonight he felt nothing no matter how hard he tried. As his nails dug deeper and deeper into his palms in response to the pressure he was exerting upon them, a vast feeling of achy coldness fell about his body.

Just as it seemed he was to go into a fit of rage, he suddenly snapped out of it. He opened his eyes again and looked around the room, slightly confused. He blanked out in the moments before this. He looked at his hands and noted he had squeezed so hard that he had made tiny incisions with his fingernails on the insides of his palms. No blood flowed forth from them, only the pale slivers of cut flesh and a sort of pinkish fluid oozing from the slits showed any evidence of the injuries he had just inflicted upon himself, all the while feeling nothing. He turned again on his other side, breathing rapidly, disturbed by his finding that his body did not actually contain any blood, just a strange fluid that smelled slightly chemical in nature that sat in his capillaries, veins, and arteries.

To calm his nerves, he began thinking of Mrs. Harris and how wonderful it was going to be once she got back from her cross country trek on her motorcycle. He thought about the time she had taken him to her home where he stayed for an entire week before his biological mother demanded she take him back home. Again, he felt the cold anger building up within him. Hugging himself, he curled into as tight a ball as he could and thought of times with Mrs. Harris over and over again until slumber took him over.

Later in the morning, nearer to noon than morning, Victor finally woke up. As he made his way downstairs, he heard the sound of his parents speaking to each other. He couldn't make out what they were saying as sleep still circled around his head dulling his senses, but it certainly sounded serious in tone. It was something he did not care to listen to at the moment. He peered into the living room, something he did when looking for Sparky every morning. Though his heart was jarred again with sadness as he was reminded that his faithful friend was no longer with him, he looked at the sleeping form of Edgar sprawled out across the couch. He was snoring frightfully, but he seemed rather content where he rested if not a little cold as the blanket he used the night before now laid on the floor. Victor walked over and covered Edgar with the blanket and made his way to the kitchen.

As the church bells of the St. Mary's Catholic Church chimed for one o'clock in the afternoon, the doorbell rang at the Frankenstein residence. By then Edgar had woken up and the entire family were in the kitchen discussing Victor's situation. Mr. Frankenstein was the one to answer the door. It was Toshiaki and Bob.

The four boys were left alone to speak amongst themselves in the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein let them know that they would be going to strip mall for some clothes and if they decided to leave the house they had permission to provided that they closed and locked up the house before they left.

"Victor, howa are you afeeling?" Toshiaki asked with his fingers interlaced in each other as he leaned forward. Victor could only shrug, the obvious misery he was in cast within the frame of his face. He had to bite down on his tongue hard to keep the tears from welling up in his eyes.

Toshiaki looked down and thought for a moment. He had always been a very quick thinker in his time, but at the moment he was unsure what to do to improve the circumstances. He looked over at Bob for a second, then back down at his hands. Then it hit him.

"Maybe you and a Edgar can come witha us to get Nassor. We go to the park and hanga out," he fixed his gaze at Victor.

"That sounds fine," Victor answered. Though he was feeling desperately sad about Sparky's death, he was just as desperate for a change in scenery. Maybe this would somehow ease the pain a little.

"I'll go lock up and we can head out," he added.

The small group of kids walked leisurely through the streets on their way to Nassor's house. Toshiaki had planned out the way there to make sure they would avoid any areas that might elicit a memory of yesterday's events in Victor's mind. The travel was quiet, but the occasional conversation about trivial interests came about from time to time. After about twenty minutes of walking the boys were at the edge of Nassor's yard. They gazed at the well manicured lawn and tightly trimmed hedges.

Toshiaki motioned for the others to be still.

"Alrighta. We have to be a very quiet because Nassor's afather can be a little strange at a times." He explained in a hushed tone.

Victor and Edgar looked at each other a little bewildered. As they watched Toshiaki walk calmly up to the door, Bob turned to them.

"Nassor's Dad is a police captain in town and can be very strict. The last time we were here he got mad at us for bothering him. I know of other kids at our school whose parents work as police, but this guy is nuts," Bob explained as he gently guided the others behind a neighbor's picket fence to be out of view from anyone within the house.

Poking their heads out just enough to see what was going on, they saw Toshiaki speaking with a tall, gruff sounding man. He had the sort of air about him that nearly mirrored a military drill instructor in a movie Victor had seen once on television late one night after his parents had gone to bed. He was not at all friendly looking and neither was this man. After speaking with Toshiaki and telling him he did not appreciate visitors this early on a day like today he turned to call to his son.

"Boy, you get over here!" he yelled threateningly. Nassor came hastily to the door. He looked at Toshiaki and then back to his father.

"If you're going out you had better take your brother with you," directed the stern man.

And with that, Nassor turned to fetch his brother obediently. It was a bit of a tense moment for Toshiaki to stand before Nassor's father, for the man was studying the boys every detail. His eyes darted back and forth from his hair to his pocket protector and down to his shoes.

"You'd best tie those before you trip," the man said, pointing at Toshiaki's shoe.

"Oh, yessa sir. Thank you," Toshiaki responded as he looked back up at the grimacing titan of a man.

Finally, Nassor appeared with a smaller child at the door way. He looked a lot like his older brother as they shared the same jet black hair, thin physique and even the same noses, though he was only half the height of Nassor, lacked his brother's broad shoulders and had gentler eyes.

"You better be back before the street lamps come on," Nassor's father ordered.

"Yes, sir," Nassor replied, his eyes looking downward.

Bob then pulled Victor and Edgar completely behind the picket fence as the three boys walked briskly across the yard towards them. Once with the group, Nassor's eyes betrayed the surprise he was hiding with the normally drab face he wore once he saw Victor and Edgar.

"I take it it's going to be a boy's day out then?" Nassor said, his lisp touching each word he said.

"For sure," Bob replied.

"You're a fathera seems to be ina a bad mood today, Nassor," Toshiaki said while retying his shoe.

"There have been better days," Nassor commented, looking off to the street, annoyed that the others got the chance to see his father on one of his "bad" days.

The youngest of the children there stood behind his tall brother. It was obvious the boy was very shy and unused to hanging out with other kids older than him. Edgar smiled sweetly at the kid, getting a slight beam in return.

"This is my brother, Thalos," Nassor said as he side stepped, revealing the lad to the others. Thalos took a step forward, holding onto the other arm with his hand, looking a little nervous.

"Hey!" Edgar exclaimed, waving enthusiastically. With his head lowered, the smaller boy smiled again.

"Well then, whata should we do now?" Toshiaki inquired, standing up.

"I say we go down by the docks and see if we can spot any turtles," Bob replied, his smile rippled the fat on his cheeks.

"Turtles?" Toshiaki said, sounding interested.

"Yea, there's a whole mess of them down by the river. I'll show you!" Bob waved as he started walking off.

After Nassor looked to his side at his brother and then at the others, he gave a nod in the direction Bob had taken and off they went. It felt great to Victor to be with the other guys in his class. He sort of wished that Elsa had joined them, but he knew a girl in the group might skew the group's demographics. In any event, this was far better than moping in his room all day as he would have done. He tried his best not to think too hard about his loss, but at times he couldn't help it. He focused in more on what the others were saying.

"So you really almost got suspended, Toshiaki?" asked Bob with interest.

"Yessa, buta I told them the othera idiot started it. I gotta off the hook scot-free. My nose isa the only thing that stilla hurts," Toshiaki said with palpable smugness as he stroked the bridge of his nose.

"My father didn't take it so well. If it weren't for the fact that Thalos was home, I think I'd be pretty screwed," Nassor said forebodingly.

"Is your Dad always like that? Strict like?" Victor chimed in.

Nassor turned his gaze briefly at Victor, then looked forward again.

"You can say we have an uneasy relationship," Nassor said harshly, lowering his head.

Thalos looked down too. Finding the conversation a little uncomfortable, Toshiaki changed the subject back to the docks.

"Whata erse is there ata the docks?" he placed his hands in his pockets.

"Well, that's were all the warehouses are in town. What with this being New Holland and all. They ship out cheese, tomatoes, and flowers. My Dad works there," Bob explained.

"That's right, the ocean isn't but twenty miles out, isn't it? I guess the Rotterdam River connects to it," Victor said thoughtfully.

"Yea. Maybe we can all go to the shore sometime? It would be a lot of fun," Bob asked, looking at the others excitedly.

"Are…. are there sharks out there?" Thalos whimpered. Nassor looked down at him.

"I don't think so. Even if there were, I'd have to slay the creature if it even looked at you," Nassor took his hand and ruffled his brother's hair. Victor was a bit taken back by seeing Nassor be so friendly with someone. Sure, he was using the same weird words that he would use every day to explain things, but it was something new to see him actually interact with anything other than his books. Victor wondered what it would be like if he had a brother. Beaming, he turned to Edgar and smiled. He was the closest thing he had to a brother, and he was glad for it.

"Maybe we can see some of those carp fish Mrs. Harris keeps talking about. She says that she, her husband and her friend Grizzly like to fish for them there," Edgar added.

"Whata is the crap fish?" Toshiaki asked, looking at Edgar, who was now laughing out loud.

"CRAP fish? I don't know what that is, but I bet it smells rank!" Edgar chortled out.

Nassor bent down to look at Edgar, and with as straight a face as ever, only his sinister eyes flickered with a hint of humor said "If you think it smells bad, you should taste it."

The boys started laughing so loud one walking down the street could mistake their banter for a hoard of wild hyenas that broke loose from the local zoo. Nassor only cracked a small but slight smirk as he watched the others howling over his well placed joke. Toshiaki was the only one perplexed as to what was so funny and did not join in.

"Whatsa so funny?" he asked three or four times, but one of the others couldn't really recall the number. After a few more moments of laughter, them calmed down and went about their way.

Once at the docks, the six boys decided to hang out by the grassy yard at the side of the warehouse buildings on the edge of the river. There was a lengthy hill that was supported by a great log wall that plummeted to a twenty foot drop to the waters below. After they looked around a bit, they found a ladder that descended to a small wooden platform below that was large enough for all of them to stand or even lay on comfortably. Once on the platform, the boys sat and looked into the swift current of the Rotterdam River.

"Look, there's a big fish right there!" Thalos said as he pointed excitedly at the swimming form. Edgar, who was right beside him, looked in awe.

"I bet he'd make for some good eating if we could catch him," Edgar said, halfway thinking of a way to actually do it.

"Good luck with that. The water is going way too fast for that to happen," Nassor commented, leaning back as he sat against the wall.

"How fasta do you think it's a going?" Asked Toshiaki as he threw a small pebble he had found beside him into the raging water.

"I don't really know, but it sure is fast," stated Victor as he stuck his hand into the current, watching it being forced back by the water.

"I think someone died in there once. They were working on one of those cargo boats and fell in. They never found his body," Bob said eerily.

"Such is life, to be forgotten in the waves if time," Nassor said as he too tossed a stone into the water. Victor just looked into oblivion, thinking of Nassor's words until someone else said something.

"Where did you learn to talk like that anyways, Nassor? I can't be from your Dad. Does your mother say stuff like that?" Bob asked innocently.

Nassor's eyes narrowed on the plump boy. It was obvious he had struck a nerve. Thalos looked toward his brother, also obviously troubled. Edgar sat back then, waiting for Nassor to reply.

"My Mother is dead," he said coldly. He then turned his eyes to Thalos, who looked down at his hands, eyes watering up.

"Oh. I'm… I'm sorry," Bob said sheepishly, feeling horrible about what he had just said.

"That's alright. Now you know," Nassor answered as he scooted towards his smaller brother, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. Victor had to bite his tongue again. He felt ashamed that he was easy to make cry. He felt even worse that he would cry so much for his dog when Edgar, Nassor, and Thalos clearly had a harder lot in life. He drew his legs up and looked at the shimmering water before him, trying to come to terms with all his thoughts.

After they had grown tired of looking at the waters counting the turtles and fish they saw, they took off to a popular local hot dog joint called "The Big Kahuna", where Bob made a pig of himself. The boys spoke freely and learned a lot about each other. Toshiaki was from Tokyo and excitedly reported all the interesting things he had seen and done while living there. He was brought to the United States by his parents who were taking college classes at a notable nearby college. Bob was actually very interested in theater and was thrilled to speak about the things he couldn't wait for when he joined the school's theater club. Nassor, impressed by this told the others how he aspired to also join in theater team, but wished to be a poet or a writer. His younger brother, Thalos, spoke up more now and happily told the others about how he couldn't wait to get to the sixth grade since he was only in the second. Edgar, as usual, behaved as only he could by talking about a motorcycle ride Mrs. Harris had given him with a dozen of her other biker comrades one Sunday, all the while flinging his arms about as he explained with a great deal of energy. Victor discussed some of the happier times with his dog as he sadly thumbed the bandage on his hand. The others respected his need to speak and generously listened to him.

Once the afternoon advanced to a point that Nassor and Thalos were becoming uncomfortable about the time, the boys took off and walked them home. At the edge of the yard, Nassor looked back at his friends.

"Thank you for the wonderful day out. We should do this again sometime," again, his lisp catching a few of his words heavily.

"Yea. Youa take care Nassor. You take care too, little man Thalos," Toshiaki said as he fist bumped both brothers.

After all had given their goodbyes, Nassor walked Thalos into the house, Nassor's hand placed behind his little brother's back as he gently directed him into the door. From that point on, Bob and Toshiaki bid farewell to Victor and Edgar and all departed to their destinations.

Victor spent the greater part of the walk home reflecting on the others. Again, a twinge of guilt rid upon his heart, for he truly felt blessed he had great parents and had good times with a loving dog as well but felt deeply for those he shared his afternoon with. It was going to be a long hard recovery, but Victor felt he would be better able to handle his grief now that he was surrounded by such great friends that he had now.


	11. Homicide in New Holland

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Eleven:

Homicide in New Holland

The next few days went by in a flash it seemed. The number of children that sat behind the monkey bars had grown considerably since the first three students started hanging out there. To date, six children now took this place as their meeting point throughout the school day's activities. Every day before school, during recess, lunch, and afterschool they'd meet and discuss the happenings they each experienced.

Victor found it much easier to face his grief than he did before. He had laughed more in this school week than he had ever done in his life before this point. Be it the overly excited way Edgar described things, Elsa's lovely smile and delightful wit, Nassor's out loud readings of the poems and short verses from the books he was covering, or the overly hammed up stories Toshiaki told and how Bob listened in awe at each word he spoke. Victor finally felt like he understood what it meant to have true friendship.

This day, Victor's mother cooked up a fine meal for her family. Since Edgar had been staying with them, he got the chance to be spoiled in his dining. Her grilled steak with heaping loads of mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of sweet peas were flavors he had never before tried. He found it fun to assist her in setting up the dinner table immensely. Victor found it sort of funny how helpful Edgar could be when he wanted to.

Dinner itself was pretty mundane. Victor and Edgar had found out that Mrs. Harris was last spotted in the area around Sweetwater, Texas. Her parents had called the Frankenstein home directly earlier in the day while Victor and Edgar were in school. After a little explaining about the route back to New Holland, both boys knew it was a sign that she would be returning home soon enough. She had been notified along the grapevine of bikers that she knew in Texas that the Mayor of New Holland was searching for her. She now knew that her presence was desperately needed there and that the situation involved Edgar. Though she was still unaware as to what exactly it was about Edgar that would require her to be home as fast as possible as she still did not know he was alive again, she still found it critical to charge home as fast as her black horse could take her. In about three days she'd be home if the circumstances would allow. Edgar could hardly keep from shaking. He was just that excited.

After the dinner, the entire household retreated to the living room to watch whatever was on the television and to catch the nine o'clock news. The programs before the news were of the usual boring type of which the show had barely anything to do with the title or idea of what the show should be about. Victor found it curious that the animal channel had more shows about people than about animals and that the channel that should be facilitating learning had instead shows documenting the lives of various nasty, unfunny, obnoxious families rather than broadcasting something educational. Once the news came on, things changed.

The story that was the top story of the night pertained greatly to Edgar. As it had turned out, in the hours before the news, an unknown person had paid off Tabitha Gore's bail and had hired a lawyer that would be working with her so that she would receive good counsel when in court. As of eight o'clock that night she was a free woman until she would face her trial. Another blow to Edgar and to the entire town of New Holland was the fact that her charges had been dropped from second degree murder to gross child abuse and neglect because Edgar was now alive and what appeared to be in good health. The newscaster predicted that instead of facing the potential of receiving the sentence of life imprisonment, Tabitha Gore could perhaps face a minimum of five years in prison. The most infuriating part was that, depending on how the trial played out and her conduct while incarcerated, she could be out of prison in as soon as six months.

Victor and Edgar had to be explained what all that meant. After Mr. Frankenstein laid it all out, Victor felt nauseated at what he had been told. How could this world be so unfair? How could anyone take the side of Tabitha Gore, the woman who KILLED her son? Edgar sat on the floor with his legs drawn up as far as they go, holding onto them, his head lowered. In the dark of the living room, his face was shaded but it wasn't hard to imagine the tears that fell from his eyes, something that happened far too often for this child. Victor looked at Edgar's arm, seeing the steady stream of water collecting on it. Edgar made not a sound.

"Honey, is there anything we can do for you?" Mrs. Frankenstein said softly as she knelt next to him, embracing him as his shoulders began to heave, his weeping now becoming audible.

"Shhh… it's okay Edgar, its okay to cry," Mrs. Frankenstein's eyes glistened over with sorrow. Mr. Frankenstein placed a hand on Victor's shoulder as the father and son exchanged mutual glances of disbelief and shock.

Mrs. Frankenstein had tucked Edgar into Victor's bed for the night at around eleven o'clock. Victor was the one to be sleeping on the couch tonight, something he had no qualms about. Any measure of comfort that could be given to Edgar was to be observed. Come eleven thirty the house had assumed an atmosphere of haunting silence. The clocks that hung upon the walls in the home that ticked away the seconds where the only noises that could be heard. Then, the gentle sound of a child's feet pattering in an uneven pace across the floor toward the front door disrupted the stillness. The door opened with a creek and once the latch caught as the door was closed the quiet fall upon the residence again. No one within the house knew about the one occupant that had just left. Each slept as though some other worldly trance had befallen them.

Edgar needed to leave the house. During the time before he had made friends with Victor the streets were often the place where he could find some solace. Something about the alleyways and ditches comforted him. He knew every shortcut there ever was in New Holland like the back of his hand. Where Victor's house was, it was only a short walk to Mrs. Harris's home by means of a ditch that cut right through a few neighborhoods straight to her domicile. He sat on the rock wall fence on the side of her home looking at the front door, wishing with all his heart that the woman who loved him as her own son would answer the door. Closing his eyes he imagined her riding down a dark lonely highway as fast as she could to New Holland in the dark of the night. If only she were here right now. Alone in the cold still darkness, he dreamed of the way she'd hold him as Victor's mother had done just a while ago. A lonely church bell rang out in the distance three times.

It was rather suddenly that his eyes reopened, the demeanor within them had drastically changed. What replaced the sadness and longing was something that had formed out of the rage that was slowly eating away at his very soul out of the devastation his heart was subjected to once again. His eyes seemed like vast black pits of which no light could illuminate nor escape. Like an automaton controlled by some demonic force, he stood up and walked methodically through the fresh darkness as the clouds covered the waxing moon at its zenith, concealing him from any wondering eyes. He was going to pay his dear mother a visit.

Tabitha Gore had only been back in her own home for a few hours and already she was stoned drunk. The two bottles of Jack Daniels lay toppled on the dirty table top. As the room spun around her and she wished to some invisible force that she had never bore a son, she rolled a cigarette and muttered to herself words even she didn't understand and lit it, taking a deep drag and blowing the smoke out of her nostrils. That's when she heard the door open.

As she turned her upper body to see who it was that had entered her home, the cigarette that she had just placed in her lips fell to the ground.

"Norman, is that you?" She strained her eyes to make out the form of a small hunched figure of someone she knew very well. It was the wretch of a son she dreamed vehemently would vanish from the face of the earth.

"Ed? What the hell are you doing here?" she growled as she attempted to grasp the cigarette that seemed to keep leaping from her clutches though it lay motionless on the floor. After a second of looking in gloom and fear, Edgar finally spoke.

"Why, mother? Why did you do this to me, mother?" his voice cracked as he spoke. Some of the rage that had built up had dissipated from within him as he wanted desperately to know what about him made her hate him so much. Maybe he would get a response that would comfort him in some way, but that was not the case. The woman put face in her hands as she grunted leaning over on the table.

"Because you where the biggest fucking mistake I ever made. I was an idiot teenager who slept with the wrong guy and you grew in my stomach like cancer. I've wanted you gone from me ever since the beginning," she eyed him lopsidedly, her body trying to keep its seat on the soiled chair that she sat upon.

Edgar's face was pale with the shock of her words still ringing in his ears. She had said a great many things about him and to him, but these harsh words were new to him and stung his already tattered heart deeply.

"I tried so damn hard to kill you before you even came out. I took pills and pills and anything else I could possibly fit my stupid ass mouth, but you kept leaching from me like a parasite," she stood up then and began to walk towards him as one of the empty bottles of liquor fell to the floor.

He closed his eyes, shielding himself from the horrid woman that was advancing on him, his shoulders shook fearfully.

"And the worst part is you can't even stay dead. You can't even get that one fucking thing right," he stood directly above him now, looking at him with hellishly unfeeling eyes.

Edgar shook only for a few seconds longer before his body became still as stone. She watched him and he took a few steps back from her, looking as though he were struggling with some terrible internal fiend, his hands drawn over his face to conceal his fight with this compelling force. After another second longer, he was still again, his hands still over his face.

"What the hell is your problem?" she shreiked out. These would be the last coherent words she would ever say.

As though a switch had been flipped, Edgar looked up at the woman, who was the bane of his existence, his eyes ablaze with endless hatred. Taken by surprise, Tabitha Gore took a step back, unsure of what stood before her now. With his breathing becoming fast and erratic, Edgar took a step forward, looking her straight in her now fearful eyes, unyielding to the sheer fearful expression that lay upon her face. A sound then emitted from his mouth that sounded like some growl from a starved animal that had finally found prey. She took two steps back now, but upon the last step back her foot had come down on the empty bottle that she had drunk from earlier and in her inebriated state was unable to catch her footing and fell backward onto a pile of dirty boxes of trash and magazines. Once the scuffle commenced, outside dogs from around the neighborhood had been swept into a frenzy of barking, completely muting the cries that followed and confusing any neighbors nearby that may have heard anything as to why their all animals had so suddenly gone mad.

She did not have the chance to even try to get away. Edgar was upon her, a knife he had spied nearby on the filthy floor now in his hand. He stabbed fiercely at her face, aiming directly for the woman's eyes. As she tried to somehow subdue the small child by her own power, he stabbed deeper and quicker, screaming into the newly formed holes that once housed the organs she once used to see. Wailing in agony, her feeble sweeps at him did not faze him but rather drove him further into madness. He bit right into her nose when stabbing didn't seem enough with his crooked teeth and when it would not come off by this means he stabbed at that too. Blood flung about the room in the wild struggle, coating everything in various thicknesses of red fluid. Edgar finished his mother off by driving the knife with a strength he never had before in the temple of the woman's head until it cracked right through her skull and into her brain. Pulling it out with ease, the now bright red blood poured in an almost continuous but pulsating fountain on to the floor. It was only until he had carved out the tongue that spoke such hatred towards him, the hacked off ears that refused to hear him, and severed the hands that had inflicted such terrible pain and bruises upon his body that his anger was finally satisfied.

With knowledge Edgar never had before, he systematically cleaned up any and all traces of his presence there during the crime. He calmly changed his clothes in his old room, placed the soiled articles into a paper bag and walked out of the home through the front door. Wiping the door knobs as he passed, he walked into the pitch darkness of the night. As though protected by some satanic force, he was able to ditch his soiled clothing in a trashcan fire pit the local homeless population used for warmth without awakening any of those around up. The knife he used he took with him. Once he made it back to the Frankenstein home, he started up a shower for himself and washed off any other evidence of the dark deed he had just committed. Outside, the sky took on a darkish blue hue as the sun was on its way to cast light on the latest murder in New Holland.

As he exited the bathroom, he found Victor blocking his path.

"Edgar, is everything alright?" Victor asked, rubbing the sleep from out of his eyes.

"Everything is alright, Victor. I just wanted to clean up after feeling all those terrible things from last night. That is all," Edgar said, his voice smacking of evil, though Victor did not detect it because of his half slumbering state.

"Okay, Edgar. Wake me up again if you need anything else," Victor yawned in the middle of his sentence as he looked sleepily at his friend.

"Promise," Edgar said as he watched Victor head back to the living room. After hearing Victor settle back down on the couch, Edgar placed the knife he used to commit the murder with in his school bag, hiding it in a large long compartment he had made long before to innocently hide trading cards he collected in case any school official were to search it. After that, he laid his head down and fell into a deathly slumber.

As the sun reached its position for ten o'clock in the morning, news had broke out in New Holland that Ms. Tabitha Gore had been found brutally murdered in her home. The anchorman estimated that the news of her release may have prompted someone in the town to take justice into their own hands. Many in the town had wished death upon this woman for her actions against her son, so it wasn't a far stretch of the imagination to consider as a motive. Though there was no singular suspect to focus on at the moment, the suspect would have to have been a large man, judging from the brute force that was used to inflict the wounds upon her that claimed her life. This person must have also been a career criminal as well as the scene of the crime had been meticulously cleaned, something a first time offender would have botched up. Anyone with any information about the crime was urged to contact the authorities.

Murder had taken place in New Holland. This latest killing was by far not the last to be committed in the days to come.


	12. The Descent

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Twelve:

The Descent

Edgar awoke the next morning unsure of what had happened the night before. He felt as though the nightmare he had had was more than just visions in his slumbering mind. He sat there for awhile rubbing his head, looking about Victor's room for any signs that what he might have done, but no evidence immediately jumped out at him. When he walked to the kitchen to meet with the others who already were awake and getting ready for the day, he sat groggily at his place, going through the motions of his usual routine. As the morning progressed, he kept quiet and detached from the goings on around him.

At school, the playing field was alive with the screams and laughter of the children attending. The giggling and chitchat that emanated from there seemed nearly unbearable to listen to to Edgar's ears. His eyes shifted across the yard as his head thumped with a grand annoyance of the happy faces and sounds of the other children. Even as Victor spoke to Elsa about things that pertained to their homework he felt a strange nagging anger whispering in the back of his head, becoming something he could not ignore any longer as he was able to at the breakfast table earlier.

"Is everything alright, Edgar?" asked Elsa, her voice ringing out like a clap of thunder in his aching brain. As he looked at the others sitting alongside him he noted the curiosity and concern on their faces. Shaking his head and closed his eyes for a moment, placing a hand on the temple of his skull.

"Yea. I guess so. I just feel really weird today," he replied with his stare looking downward.

It was then that the closest sitting next to Edgar, Nassor, caught the faint smell of something that made him retort a little. Looking around, he was a little unsure of the cause. Taking in a few more explorative sniffs, he located the course of the odor. It was Edgar. His eyes narrowed on the boy, a little disgusted.

"When was the last time you bathed?" he asked in a nearly scolding manner.

"This morning, why?" returned Edgar, scowling.

"To put it politely you smell vaguely a little like the biology class on a hot day," Nassor scooted away.

As with any situation that would warrant against it, the others took a slight sniff at Edgar and pulled away as well.

"Seriously, you smell weird. Did you use soap?" said Bob as he wafted the air with his chubby hands, trying to dispel the scent.

"Yes. I did," Edgar growled back, folding his arms.

Noting the negativity that was starting to take over the group, Elsa changed the subject back to Edgar's apparent trouble with how he was feeling.

"Are you feeling sick maybe? Sometimes it all ties together," she looked at him, waiting for a response.

After a moment of thought he looked up at her, sadness welling up within him.

"Actually, for a few days now I haven't been able to fell anything. I don't feel pain like I used to. The things that used to hurt me a little I don't feel anymore. I mean, I can still feel it when it really hurts bad, like in my head right now, but other than nothing. I feel so… cold and numb. Especially today," he shrank in his seat, drawing his arms around him to comfort himself.

Toshiaki and Bob looked at each other as Elsa and Victor exchanged looks of perplexity. Nassor kept his eyes on Edgar, seemingly feeling bad about pointing out the aroma coming off of him.

"Maybe all we need to do is give you a jump start. We haven't done that at all with you. I had to do that at least once a day for Sparky," Victor's voice sounded hopeful.

"Maybe. It's starting to creep me out that I can't feel anything," he said as he looked at the cuts on his hands he inflicted in himself a few days earlier. He became bothered at the fact that they seemed as fresh now as they did when they were first made.

"Don't worry, we'll fix it," Victor said, certain of his solution being correct. Edgar looked at Victor with doubtful eyes.

"I hope so," Edgar whimpered and just after that, the first tell rang for the students to make their way to their classes.

Being in class did not seem to make Edgar's situation any better. As he watched Mr. Rzykruski give the lecture, his mind drifted off quite a bit. Though he tried his best to keep focus, it seemed an impossible task. The sound of the chalk on the board that Mr. Rzykruski was using pained his ears and at times it seemed as though he were blacking out. The pain in his head seemed to be getting worse as well. What concerned him the most was that during the times he felt as though he was drifting away he would have brief images of something red and black, though he was not able to discern what the image he was seeing was. These subliminal visions chilled him beyond reason.

In a last ditch effort to make it at least seem he was paying attention to the lecture, Edgar took to focusing on different things that Mr. Rzykruski drew on the board. He had little idea what the chalk symbols meant by now, but at least he could at least blend in with the other children who were paying attention.

It was not long though before his concentration switched again. Edgar's eyes crept to the side, now looking at the girl who occupied the desk beside him. He had never taken such interest in his girl before. She was a placid, unremarkable female with short hair whom he sat next to and passed in the hallway a million times before. As she was writing in her notebook he watched her with great intent, curious of the way she was breathing and how her eyes would look up at the board. 'What would it be like to hear her scream,' he wondered, this time the dark thoughts of his subconscious crossed into his consciousness.

After the color of bright red flashed within his eyes as he gazed upon the girl, he was shocked back into reality in one horrifying second. So disturbed was he by this visualization, his head snapped backward and a gasp escaped his lips. As he sat breathing hard at his desk, the entire class turned to look at him, including Mr. Rzykruski.

"Was there something in your day dream that startled you, Mr. Gore?" Mr. Rzykruski asked in a humble joking sort of way. As the other students laughed at the situation that Edgar was in, those who knew him looked at each other with faces stricken with worry, most notably Victor. Edgar sat at his desk with his head lowered, mortified that such thoughts could even enter his head.

At lunch time, the group gathered in the usual spot, each tried to give their own insight as to what was the matter.

"It has to be that you are powering down. Perhaps the life force that is powered by electricity is at a critically low level," Nassor stated thoughtfully.

"Right. I thinka that the low apower is affecting the conductivity ina your nerves," Toshiaki added.

Elsa nodded. The ideas that both boys were putting forth seemed to make the most sense. Something nagged at the back of her head though. 'Was this something like the path that Sparky had gone down before he went berserk?' she asked herself. Looking at Victor, she knew immediately that the thought in her head was also in his.

"We'll have to give you that jump as soon as we get home, Edgar. Is there anything else that's been bothering you other than the loss of feeling?" he asked, jotting down something in the notebook he kept during the progress of his experiments.

Edgar looked down at the ground in silence. Should he tell Victor about the deranged ideas in his head or should be keep such distressing information to himself, he wondered. He picked the later.

"No. That's about it," he muttered as he rubbed his forehead. Victor looked to Elsa and she to him as Edgar's words seemed to dispel their apprehension a little.

"That's good then. It shall be an easy fix as we had discussed earlier," Nassor replied, turning a page in his poetry book.

While the others sat in the shade of a tree that grew on the other side of the fence and talked about the things they might do on the weekend, Edgar sat in the direct rays of the noon time sun. His hopes were that somehow he would feel the warmth from the luminous orb, but to his dismay he felt nothing but the everlasting coldness that had invaded his fingers and toes.

The time after lunch went by without any other incidents with Edgar blacking out. He even managed to catch up to where his fellow classmates where in lecture. His progress was cut short though as a student who worked with the principal was sent to retrieve Edgar so she could speak with him. She also stated that Victor was to go as well. Unsure of what the principal wanted with them, they reluctantly followed the taller girl with a reflective belt slung around her shoulder into the hallway.

"What do you think they want with us?" Victor whispered to Edgar.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it can't be good," Edgar murmured back

Once at the principal's office, Victor was surprised that his parents were in the room waiting for them. Edgar glanced at Victor, looking a little anxious now. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein offered them chairs facing the principal's desk. Once seated, the two looked to the woman who sat before them. After clearing her throat, the principal began speaking.

"Well boys, how are you doing today?" she said in as pleasant a tone as she could give.

"Fine" replied both Edgar and Victor.

"And your classes?" she questioned.

"Good," the two boys said in unison.

The tension that followed their reply was nerve wracking.

"Edgar," the principal sighed, unsure of exactly how to phrase her next sentence.

"You mother passed away last night," she watched his face carefully.

"We aren't exactly sure how it happened, but the police are investigating it. I'm very sorry."

Edgar's expression looked as though all the life had been sucked out of him. A colder feeling now trickled down from his head to his feet. He felt as though he were going to vomit. He was unsure how to react. Was his vision of last night true? It couldn't possibly be. This was all a horrible nightmare of which he'd wake up from, it had to be.

"As we get more news about what happened, you'll be staying with the Frankensteins," the principal went on. He did not hear what they were saying after that, he did not care. He just wanted desperately to be rid of this situation.

When the meeting was over, both boys were taken to the home for the day. Victor tried his best to console Edgar, but nothing he said was heard. Edgar seemed to have completely shut down. Worried for his friend, Victor stayed by his side, attempting to get a word out of him, anything. Edgar did not eat his dinner. The whole time he reasoned that perhaps his mother died due to natural causes. He was not told after all how she died. Maybe the visions were all in his head, invented by his over imaginative head after he received word of his mother's death.

The relief that Edgar so wished for did not come as he had hoped. A police officer had come by to speak with Edgar personally later that evening. As the officer had walked in, Edgar already knew something terrible had happened just by the way the man carried himself. The officer explained to him and the others that his mother had been killed by someone and the asked if he or they had any idea who it could have been. Edgar remained dead silent. The officer nodded and placed a well meaning hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't worry son, it isn't your fault. None of this was," he said, not knowing these words only made the matter worse for the shaking child.

Edgar couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and with tearful eyes departed from the group in the living room, making his way to the back yard. When Victor stood up to follow him, his father looked at him and shook his head.

"Leave him be for now, Victor. We'll keep an eye on him, but this is a time where he needs to sit and think. In tough times as these, it is necessary to give him some space," he explained. Victor hesitantly agreed.

The night air outside was cool and a breeze ripped through the trees, swaying them gently. Edgar sat not far from the now empty dog house and began to weep bitterly. He was unsure as to what was going on within himself, but more frightfully he was unsure what the future would hold. As he looked up into the cloudy skies above, he spoke to Mrs. Harris in his mind. 'I'm so sorry,' he reflected, 'I have no idea what I have done'. As the shattered dream of a perfect life with her and her husband fell about his feet, he drew his arms around him as Mrs. Harris would have done.

As the skies began to drizzle on him and his hair began to drip from the dampness, he closed his eyes. Though he knew he should feel wet, he did not. All that there was for him to feel was the cold numbness advancing upon the rest of his body. A few moments later, as though he had fallen asleep in his place, he became very still. It wasn't until a familiar voice that called from the patio that he moved.

"Edgar! Edgar, come inside, it's raining," Victor called out as he opened an umbrella. As he made his way to his now soaking wet friend he noticed that Edgar had twitched a little. Approaching with caution, Victor lifted the umbrella over Edgar's head to shield him from becoming further drenched.

"Edgar? Are you alright?" Victor asked, cocking his head to the side to get a better look at his face.

When Edgar opened his eyes, a certain darkness had taken over his once soft and saddened eyes. Looking up at Victor, he examined his friend carefully from his shoes up to his face. Victor quivered at the look in Edgar's eyes. Something about them seemed dimmed and sinister, not like the Edgar he knew at all.

"Edgar, come on… you're starting to scare me," Victor divulged, taking a step backward.

"I'm fine, Victor," Edgar said as he stood up. Something about his posture made Victor uneasy.

"Let's go inside," he added as he began walking toward the house, eerily keeping Victor in his sights. Victor began walking slowly to the sliding door, unsure of what had just transpired. Victor locked the clear glass door behind him.


	13. Nassor

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Thirteen:

Nassor

Victor was happy to be at school at last this morning. Breakfast was a bit awkward since Edgar had been acting so oddly the night before. When the family sat to eat, all Edgar did was watch everyone present and he did not even touch his food. He didn't really talk much either. When Mrs. Frankenstein asked if he was feeling well he just smiled and went back to being silent. Victor wasn't sure what to make of it.

As the kids sat in their usual spot, things remained pretty quiet as there were was no loud group discussion this morning. Elsa and Victor spoke to each other on the side about the possibilities about going to the movies together that coming weekend while Toshiaki and Bob mapped out their schedule for this coming evening. Nassor sat reading a new book he had just checked from the library that morning before he sat with the group. Edgar's eyes shifted between all those there. It was some time before he finally spoke.

"Nassor," Edgar said, his unblinking eyes focused onto the tall boy's gaunt face.

"Yes?" he replied.

"When you brought you hamster back, you said you used balloons, didn't you? To harness the lightning?" Edgar leaned forward, rubbing the top of one hand with the other.

Nassor scowled a little before he answered, closing his book with a slap.

"Yes… I did. What does it matter now?" he demanded, his eyes narrowed on the hunchbacked child.

"Oh, I was just comparing the different ways we did our experiments that night all hell broke loose is all," Edgar's eyes never parting from Nassor's face.

"Well, it's something I would rather not to be brung up again, Edgar. I trust I don't have to remind you of that again," he reopened his book and began reading again as he shot one last discontented look at Edgar. Edgar chuckled a little before resuming his quiet stance. The others looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Nassor, whata are you doing tonight?" Toshiaki asked after he spoke with Bob.

"I'm going to be staying late tonight. I have a student council meeting I must attend and I also have to finish up some things before I can go home," Nassor's eyes didn't move from his book as he spoke. Edgar seemed to have taken a particular interest in this exchange.

"Oh. Well, I guessa we can get togethera and practice ball tomorrow afternoon then?" Toshiaki took out his planner and crossed off the day's date and waited for Nassor's response.

"We shall see. My father has been… well… we'll just have to save it for another night," again, Nassor answered with his nose pointed straight into the pages in the book.

Toshiaki sat for a moment, a little irritated that he didn't have a concrete answer as he would have liked. He placed a sizeable question mark on tomorrow afternoon's slot with a pen from his pen protector before replacing it. He looked at Bob, who only shrugged to show his equal dissatisfaction.

Edgar scanned the entire playground. He'd look at one student and then the next with great inquisitiveness. Had anyone given interest in watching his motions it would have appeared that he was taking mental notes on each of the students he inspected. He seemed to take fastidious interest in the schoolyard bully, the kid in the red hat that had harassed Nassor a while back. He watched as the child went around and shoved others while his two cronies laughed at the spectacle. He had also looked at the little weird girl with the large eyes who had taken to moping around the perimeter of the area near the water fountain. He was in the middle of sizing up another student when the bell rang. As the others walked ahead, Edgar trailed behind, his gaze fixed on each of his friends as they walked in front of him.

The school day was very mundane. A pop quiz was given in the science class and lecture in the English class seemed to interest only Nassor. Victor had passed a few notes to Elsa during that period, and after a few exchanges the two were most certainly going out on Friday to get a bite to eat that "The Big Kahuna" and to catch the latest comedy that had just come out in theaters. Victor could hardly keep his excitement bottled up. As the hours rolled away, nothing other than Edgar's behavior seemed amiss. Everyone figured it was just the actions of a very confused boy who had too much going on in his life.

Once school led out, the group of six students met up by the basketball court. Since they had all started hanging out they all had started to walk home together; the end of the basketball court bring their point of meeting. They swapped a few stories before they all turned to Nassor, knowing he would not be joining them on their journey home today.

"I guess I'll be seeing you all tomorrow morning then," Nassor's lisp again affecting his speech.

"Yea. Don't give those guys at student council too much to think about. The next thing you know we'll be all trying to help you set up the next dance," Victor said with a bright smile, looking at Elsa.

"The next dance isn't for some time now, Victor. Either way, you lot should enjoy your walk home," Nassor stated before he turned to walk back into the school. The others saddled up and took off.

Victor and Edgar had to run their way home rather quickly that afternoon. They and the others had to split up before they reached the halfway mark as it appeared that a thunderstorm was brewing and about to open the floodgates upon them. The wind had kicked up a bit, so it was desirable to get away from the blowing dust and floating grass particles that it had disturbed. After they ran the last stretch to the front door, small droplets of rain began to fall from the skies above. Victor took one last look outside before he shut the door behind them.

Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein were not home yet from their trip to a nearby grocery store. Both Victor and Edgar finished up some homework in the living room as lightning flashed outside. They had the dim light of the lamp to allow them to read their material, but the bright flashes from outside were numerous enough to almost enable them to read with the light from that alone.

As Victor looked out of the window, he remarked at how though the clouds looked menacing but no rain fell.

"Well that's weird," Victor said as the wind howled outside. Edgar only turned his eyes to look at Victor, his expressionless face turned towards his notes.

"It looks like it should really be coming down, but there's no rain," Victor parted the drapes again to admire the strange phenomenon.

Edgar looked around the room a bit before a crooked smile graced his lips.

"It's the perfect weather to go out for a walk," he said, now turning his entire head to focus on Victor.

"You've got to be crazy, Edgar. It's due to be raining like cats and dogs any minute," he eyed is friend, a little surprised at his remark.

"Trust me, Victor," Edgar stood up now, his weight shifted to one side. Victor cocked his head to the side, puzzled.

"I've been walking these streets for years. I know when it's about to rain and when it isn't. I also know when I can and can't go out. I'll be back eventually. I just need time to be alone. You understand." An ominous look was upon his face as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He made his way to the door.

" O… okay, I suppose. You head home as soon as it gets bad though, okay Edgar?" Victor walked to the door to open it for his little friend.

"Promise," murmured Edgar as he managed to form an unnatural smile.

Victor watched his friend walk off, the wind rippling through his dark hair as he scampered down the block. He wasn't very sure of what to make of Edgar's strange actions, but he certainly did not like them. He shrugged as he came to the conclusion that his friend probably did actually need some alone time given the situation he was in, even if it meant a brief walk in the rain. Victor flipped the switch on the television and turned it to the science fiction channel to watch a movie.

The meeting at student council was an irritating one for Nassor. He walked outside of the school with his shoulders hunched. Standing under the arch of the school's entrance, he looked up at the angry skies and sighed. He wished his father would pick him up from school on a day like this, but that was an impossibility he would just have to live with. It was already quite late in the afternoon as the night was already setting in, so he'd have to walk quickly if he were to make it home before it would start pouring.

A few blocks down from the school, Nassor turned into a back alley that would lead him on a more direct route to the relative safety of his home. He had gotten in an argument the night before with his father and though the house would shield him from the turbulent weather, the walls inside could not safeguard him from his father's constant irrational temper. Last time, his father had gotten upset at Nassor's speech impediment, tonight might be something worse. All Nassor could think about was how he was going to protect his younger brother from their father's unpredictable verbal assaults.

As the light became dimmer and dimmer, Nassor picked up the pace. He figured himself lucky now that the rain had remained absent and hoped it would stay that way until he reached his home. This particular alley was a bit intimidating to navigate as it was located in the middle of a ditch that was overgrown with all manner of plant life. So foreign looking was this patch of land compared to the highly maintained lawns of the homes in New Holland that this route was only used by those who desperately needed a shortcut.

Nassor's attention was focused to every sound he heard as he walked down a dirt road path. Wild animals and feral stray dogs were known to take up residence here, so attention to any warning signs would be of the highest priority. Just as he thought the coast was clear he heard a noise. Stopping dead in his tracks, he whipped his head around, looking for the source.

He heard it again. Something was making its way through the opposite end of a path that lead to a dead end. It whatever it was appeared to have made its way a bit further up the road bypassing his position before he started walking again slowly. His footsteps as he crossed a patch of weeds were about as noisy as the thing that was going down the other path as their seed pods crunched beneath his feet. Nassor stopped as he heard the other thing stop. He was certain that whatever it was heard him. His eyes scanned the undergrowth feverishly as he heard the unidentified creature started making its way towards him.

After a moment of silence, it was for certain now that Nassor was being watched. He damned his luck for having aroused the attention of the thing and decided to just keep walking. Eventually it would either lose interest in him or at least he would be closer to someone hearing him if he needed to call out for aid. To his dismay, the thing began following him. He'd stop a few times to listen to how close it was to him, but it never stopped moving as he paused to locate it. Figuring it best to just keep going without stopping, Nassor walked a little faster but avoided running as it might incite whatever it was to attack.

Finally, as he listened to the sound of his assailant crossing from the overgrown grass to the dirt path, he spun around quickly to get a glimpse of what it was. To his surprise, it was a figure he knew very well. It was Edgar. After seeing the little creep, Nassor's annoyance reached its peak. He walked towards Edgar, his feet falling heavy upon the ground with each step. Nassor figured it would have scared him off like it had so many times before, but strangely Edgar held his ground, keeping his eyes nailed to his. Just a few feet before he reached Edgar, Nassor ceased his advance. He was greatly troubled by the unmoving expression of malicious intent be was witnessing in the small boy. Finding his nerve, Nassor spoke out.

"I don't know what you're playing at, Edgar, but you best leave me in peace," he declared, waiting for some sort of reaction from Edgar. Nothing came. Edgar just stared unnervingly back into Nassor's eyes, one hand behind his back.

Nassor couldn't help but feel a prickling sensation creep up the back of his neck. He took a step back, looking at the boy who stood before him, his pulse began to race. This was not the same boy whom he had shared class with countless times before. This creature was something else, something hallow eyed and soulless. As the rain began to fall about them, Edgar never blinked despite the droplets striking him directly in the eye. The tears that flowed down the pale cheeks of the child made by the rain were the only animated feature on his face. Some long dormant instinct kicked into Nassor's head. Run. He had to run. Nassor turned quickly around and began to sprint in the opposite direction. Once his quarry had bolted from him, Edgar grimaced and the chase ensued.

Nassor could feel every fiber in his legs being exerted to their limits with each fleeting step forward he was able to make. Each breath he drew in became more and more frantic and painful than the last. Though his efforts to escape were extraordinary, he could hear the hellishly fast pace of his pursuer closing in behind him. Don't look back, he told himself desperately as his pulse thumped in his head. Don't look back. Whatever you do, don't look back.

Just as he could see the entrance to the block he would have to turn in to to reach safety, he tripped. The uneven path that had become muddied and slippery by the rain proved to be a fatal slip up for Nassor. As he plummeted downward, his chest hit the ground first and his whole body skidded a short distance before he came to a stop.

He whipped himself around to see where Edgar was. In turning, Nassor exposed his neck. Edgar struck out with the knife he had had in his hands. With one fell swing, the knife slit Nassor's throat, causing bright red blood to pour forth in spurts. For good measure, Edgar lashed out once more, carving out a chunk of Nassor's throat out. With his throat completely severed, Nassor could only make a horrendous gurgling noise as his body began to flail about. His hands tried desperately to somehow clutch at what remained from his throat while his legs kicked into the air violently in the struggle to preserve himself. Edgar simply stepped back and watched with disinterest as Nassor thrashed about, trying feverishly to fight off the impending death that awaited him. It didn't take long for the body of the once strong and intelligent boy that Nassor was to slow and eventually cease in moving. As he laid his head down for the final time, his eyes wide and wild with fear, the final vision in Nassor's eyes was a hellish one. Before him was Edgar. He was looking at him straight in the eyes with his head half cocked to the side. The eerie rainwater tears that fell from Edgar's never blinking eyes steamed down his masklike face. Then shadows crept in and everything ceased to be.

(Author's note: This was INCREDIBLY hard for me to write.)


	14. Change

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Fourteen:

Change

As the night advanced, Victor had grown anxious since Edgar had yet to come home from his walk. There was a terrible thunderstorm raging outside and he feared that his little friend was lost somewhere alone and cold. He sat keenly at the window, looking outside for any signs of the boy walking towards the front door. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein were growing concerned as well. Just as Mr. Frankenstein was about to grab the keys to his car to begin searching the block, Victor yelled out excitedly.

"He's here!" Victor ran to the front door and flung it open.

Edgar was completely soaked to the bone. As he crossed the threshold, the floor beneath him became soaked. Victor looked at his friend with a grave expression, unsure how to react to the situation. Mr. Frankenstein was none too impressed with Edgar as he watched his carpet become wetter and wetter.

"Edgar, this isn't acceptable," Mr. Frankenstein said in an authoritative tenor. Edgar turned his head towards Mr. Frankenstein and then his eyes. He looked wholly unimpressed.

"I'll let it slide this time, young man, but next time don't come home so late. We were worried sick! I'd also appreciate it if you wouldn't drag water inside this house. Alright?" Mr. Frankenstein's voice softened towards the end of his speech.

Edgar observed the man with dulled eyes. He then turned to walk to the bathroom to change his clothes, ignoring the stares of dismay aimed at him. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein looked at each other and then to Victor. Victor just kept his eyes on the direction Edgar had taken. Again, the family excused his behavior considering the evens o the last few days.

The next morning went along about the same as the day before. Edgar refused to eat and barely interacted with anyone. Victor hoped his friend would snap out of the strange spell he was experiencing soon. He missed the days when Edgar was lively, rambunctious, and silly. They got ready and walked to school in silence.

At school, Toshiaki sat at his usual spot looking very impatient. Elsa and Bob quietly watched Victor and Edgar approached the group.

"Either any-a of you two seea Nassor?" Toshiaki asked as he stood up, his planner in his hands.

"No, we haven't," Victor looked at the hunchbacked child, trying to see if he would participate in the conversation. Edgar just shook his head.

"Thats a great! We needa to practice a baseball for the game this Friday and he goesa missing," Toshiaki sat down hard.

"He didn't a answera the phone either," he folded his arms in frustration.

"He'll turn up eventually," Edgar said airily, his eyes focused harshly on Toshiaki. Victor looked at Edgar, slightly relieved to hear his voice.

"It's not like Nassor to be late though," Elsa remarked, scanning the school yard.

"Exact-a-lee!" Toshiaki exclaimed as he rested his chin on the heel of his hand. Bob remained quiet, unsure of what to say next. A few moments later the bell rang and they all herded inside.

The classes during the morning were pretty standard. Toshiaki kept looking towards the door anticipating that Nassor would show, but he did not. Lunch had become pretty boring with the only real conversation being about the upcoming big game. Bob and Toshiaki were convinced that if they did not practice tonight or the day after, the game would be lost.

Once the kids attended their science class, the students listened intently to the lecture the teacher was giving. While the other students wrote their notes, Edgar sat there staring intently at the chalkboard, analyzing the chart on human anatomy Mr. Rzykruski was going over. Victor gazed over a few times to take a peek at Edgar. He was happy to see him finally interested in something.

Then, quite suddenly, the door of the classroom flung wide open. The sound of the door hitting the wall from the force behind it being opened startled a few students and all eyes were on the figure standing at the entryway. It was Nassor. He looked dreadful. His head was slightly tilted to the side, his face was very pale, and though his clothes were clean his shoes were crusty with dried mud. He stood there awkwardly, his eyes were wide and aimless.

"Well, Mr. Karloff, it is nice to see that you will be joining us this afternoon. Go ahead and take a seat. We aren't very far into the lecture, but do please try to catch up," Mr. Rzykruski said softy. He knew Nassor was very punctual normally, so he was more than willing to look over his tardiness this morning.

Nassor stood there for a moment, seemingly having to think about what to do next while the other students watched him. As he jerkily started to walk to his seat at the back of the class, his head swayed a little more than usual as he took each step. Toshiaki, Bob, Victor and Elsa's eyes were all pointed at him, each curious and concerned for their tall lurching friend. Edgar's gaze remained on the blackboard.

Once he reached his desk, Nassor put down his book bag and sat down hard, making a loud thud. It took a moment for the rest of the class to regain their attention at the front of the class. Toshiaki turned around briefly to look at Nassor. He pointed at his planner and then turned around to face Mr. Rzykruski again. Nassor seemed detached from reality as he stared off into nothing.

About an hour into the lecture, all in the class were writing down some final notes that were being presented on an old projector as Mr. Rzykruski finished up a few pointers on his biology presentation. Victor was already a chapter ahead and eagerly absorbing the information. It was a nice change in pace from the emotionally draining ordeal of having to interact with Edgar.

Another unexpected disturbance jarred the class, turning their attention to the back of the classroom once again. Nassor, for no particular reason at all, just suddenly stood up from his desk. As everyone's heads turns to face him, his eyes stared at Mr. Rzykruski. The old teacher looked back at the boy, a little unnerved.

"Is there something you would like to say, Mr. Karloff?" Mr. Rzykruski's voice stammered.

The sound that came from Nassor could only be described as some sort of raspy groan. It looked like he was trying to annunciate words as his lips moved as if he were speaking, but only that grotesque sound was emitted. Nassor's eyes seemed to be silently pleading with Mr. Rzykruski. When he moaned a second time, he lifted his left arm and pointed out the window but kept his gaze upon the professor. The class recalled of one other time he pointed out the window, his finger directed at the New Holland landmark windmill. The class looked outside to see if anything was amiss. After confirming nothing was unusual, they sat quietly as their eyes studied his long pale fingers. The very tips of them had turned an appalling shade of black, turning into blackish blue as the appendage connected to his hand. The hand itself was dreadfully pallid. As his arm lowered again, the student's gaze followed, only looking back up at his mournful looking face once his arm was back at a neutral position.

"Nassor, I think you should see the school nurse," Mr. Rzykruski finally said after a bout of uncomfortable silence.

Edgar was the one who broke the awkward moment.

"I will take him to the nurse, Mr. Rzykruski," he murmured as he lifted his arm.

"Yes… I believe that to be the right thing to do," Mr. Rzykruski replied, looking with great distress at the boy in the back of the class.

As Edgar stood up he looked at Nassor. Once Nassor's eyes had found Edgar, his expression went from sorrowful to fearful. He drew his hands up, looking as though he wished to shield himself from Edgar.

"Come on, Nassor… we have to get you check out," Edgar sneered, his gaze never removed from the boy he was speaking to. The entire class was perplexed as to what to make of the situation.

Nassor stood up, reluctantly obedient to Edgar's words. He walked to the front of the class slowly, his eyes growing more and more fearful as he came closer to Edgar. Edgar looked up at him, emotionless. As if meeting some sort of psychic understanding, Edgar walked over and opened the door, Nassor following slowly behind.

Before the two left the class, Nassor took one last gaze into the classroom, his eyes falling upon Toshiaki. Toshiaki looked back at Nassor, his face grew increasingly troubled. Nassor seemed to be trying to tell something in his stare. Never before had he seen his friend so fearful as now. He wanted to go with them to the nurse's office, but Toshiaki knew he would not be allowed.

"Go on, Nassor… you have to be seen," Edgar bellowed. Nassor then, turned his attention to the smaller boy holding the door for him. He walked unwillingly into the hallway, visibly uneasy by Edgar's presence. As the door closed behind them, the class remained silent for a few minutes, contemplating what they had just seen.

Once school had let out, Bob picked up Nassor's book bag and followed the others outside to the basketball court. They all discussed what had happened earlier in class, each frightened about their limited understanding of the situation.

As they spoke quietly amongst themselves, some time had passed. The entire schoolyard was vacant when Elsa noticed a small child looking around for something. Victor looked at her and then followed her eyes in the direction of the child. It was Thalos, Nassor's younger brother. He seemed more than a little lost and very confused. Victor looked at Elsa.

"We have to go to him, I think there is something up with Nassor," Victor said grimly.

Once the group approached Thalos, they could see there were tears in the small boy's eyes.

"H… have you seen my brother Nassor? He… he's been… acting very weird since last night," Thalos admitted.

"We… we say him in class. He looked sick," Victor replied, his voice starting to expose the fear he wanted to keep hidden.

"Yes… yes he does! I don't know what to do! My Dad is very angry at him for staying out last night! I'm afraid of what is going to happen when he goes home!" Thalos began to sob.

The kids in the group were moved by Thalos's open lamenting. Victor then thought about that they could do to get to the bottom of this mystery.

"Let's go ahead and walk you home, Thalos. Do you have Toshiaki's number?" he said as he placed a hand on the child's shoulder.

"Y… yes," replied the little boy.

"Just give him a call and we'll head over. You've got nothing to worry about. We'll get this figured out soon, Victor tried to sound as confident as he could despite his uncertainty.

"Alright… you are going to talk to Nassor?" Thalos whimpered.

"Yes. Maybe he's just upset at your Dad or something." Victor gave a gentle smile.

"O… okay," Thalos replied as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.

The group then talked a little more about their plans and they set off on their journey to the Karloff residence. None of them gave much thought as to where Edgar was nor how involved he was in the events leading up to this.


	15. Patricide

Victor F: Reanimator

(A Horrid Fan Fic of a Cherished Feature)

Written by: Janice Ghost Hunter

Chapter Fifteen:

Patricide

While they waited for Thalos to call Toshiaki's phone, the group sat in Toashiaki's living room talking about the plan they would have to execute once Nassor returned to his house and met with his father. They knew an altercation of some sort was going to break out at any time now. Elsa kept watch for any signs of a cop car going down the street. It could have been Nassor and Thalos's father heading home from work. No such vehicle had been spotted just yet. Victor could feel his hands turn cold in nervous anticipation. He wiped his hands on his pants and observed the barely visible beats of sweat return on his fingers and the palms of his hands. He wiped his hands again and leaned forward, looking at Elsa.

"Hey, I was just thinking… were the hell is Edgar?" Bob blurted out. Victor was a little surprised at his language.

The others looked around the room, realizing he was missing.

"Victor?" asked Elsa, turning her head to face him.

"Do you know where he is?" she added.

"I don't know. He's been acting real weird lately. He went out real late last night in the rain all by himself. I think he's upset about his Mother, but I'm not too sure anymore. Everything has become so bizarre since he got the news that she died," Victor answered, looking at each of their faces as he spoke.

"Well, he's a not oura prolem righta now. We can catch up to a him later," Toshiaki said as he leaned forward in his chair, lacing his fingers together while looking down at them. Victor just nodded. It was probably best to let Edgar have his space for now. It wouldn't do any good to try and locate him at this moment anyways.

It was a few hours before finally the phone rang. The sun had already set and yet another thunderstorm had begun to roll in. When it finally did everyone in the room fell dead silent. Toshiaki looked at the others as he answered the phone.

"Hel… hello?" Toshiaki's voice squeaked a little.

Those within earshot of the phone felt their blood run cold. They all could hear the panic and desperation of the boy on the other end of the line. Amid the screaming, sounds of a great and terrible struggle could be heard. Toshiaki was frozen in his place, holding onto the phone numbly to his ear.

"OH, HURRY PLEASE! HE'S KILLING HIM! HE'S KILLING HIM!"

And then the phone went dead. The phone slowly slipped from Toshiaki's grasp, hitting the floor with a thump. A split second later, everyone in the room bolted out of the front door and ran down the street towards Nassor's house.

It didn't take very long for them to reach their destination. As they crossed the lawn they could hear glass breaking and furniture scraping across the floor. 'Dear God, let Nassor be alright, let Nassor be alright, Victor chanted in his head.

It was Toshiaki who kicked in the door, allowing the kids entry into the house. They had not advanced past the main hallway into the living before they stopped abruptly in their tracks. Each had a direct view to the horror taking place before them.

Thalos was shivering beneath the remains of a table that has two of its legs broken. He was trying his best to make himself look as small as possible. He looked at them with tears pouring down his cheeks and his hands over his ears trying to keep himself from hearing the appalling sounds of a blunt object hitting flesh and bone.

As they surveyed the rest of the room their eyes fell upon the body of a fully uniformed police officer on the floor, his face completely unrecognizable amid the large amount of physical damage done to his skull. Glowering over the body was a tall lurching boy with jet black hair. One of the legs of the broken table was in his hands, caked with fragments of meat and hair. The boy continued to hit the man on the floor with hard steady blows despite the obvious fact that the man was completely immobilized.

The entire group witnessing the beating was frozen solid from shock. They all had come prepared expecting to be intervening on Nassor's behalf, but it was he who was the assailant. There was no doubt in any of their minds that the man on the floor was his father nor was there any doubt that the man was dead.

It was Victor who found the courage to step forward albeit with great apprehension. Perhaps Nassor was acting out only in self defense, he seasoned. As Victor stepped forth, Thalos made a dash toward the cluster of onlookers in the hallway and hid behind Toshiaki. The small boy held on tightly to the Asian boy's leg as he looked on in total fear at his brother.

"N... Nassor?" Victor said as he took yet another step forward. When Nassor heard Victor's voice his shoulders became tense as they twitched upward. He turned slowly to the sound he just heard.

The entire group went slack jawed as they looked upon Nassor's face. His skin had become even paler than before, looking ashen. His lips had turned a nauseating shade of blue. They noticed how his fingers were now completely black as he held on tightly to the leg of the broken table Thalos was hiding under. As Nassor's eyes gazed at their direction, he looked completely out of it as his eyelids hung half closed over his yellowing eyes. His pupils, which now had become an unnatural milky white color, did not appear to be looking directly at any one of them. As he turned his entire body to face his friends, Victor stood his ground though he found it impressively hard to do so.

"Nassor… what happened?" Victor asked as his lip quivered, becoming emotional over seeing his friend in such a state.

He looked on glassy eyed at them not saying a word. He began to take a few steps forward, causing Bob and Elsa to retreat backward in response. Thalos moved to stand next to Victor. Cowering before his older brother, Thalos's knees were shaking but he spoke very clearly.

"Nassor! Why are you doing this? You killed Dad!" Thalos managed to say while crying, his words choked with trepidation.

Nassor stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes opened wide as if he realized what he had just done. His white pupils studied the terrified face of his little brother. He then looked back at the body of his father, then down at the hand that was grasping the table leg. He dropped it and then examined his blackened fingers in horror.

"Nassor… what's happened to you?" Thalos's tone of voice was grave.

When Nassor looked back at his brother, his expression became very bleak and sorrowful. He raised his arm as if to ask Thalos to come to him. He moaned as his lips moved as if he were saying 'come here'. Thalos shook his head, hiding behind Victor. Victor then realized that the sound that had emanated from the tall boy had not come from his mouth, but a bit lower, around the area of his neck. When Thalos rejected Nassor's gesture, his eyes became down casted. As he focused on the floor, his eyebrows arched upward and he gradually dropped his arm down. A thick black fluid began to ooze from the edges of his eyes, streaming down his cheeks slowly like melting wax from a burning candle, falling onto the floor. He was crying black putrid tears. His shoulders lurched a second time as though he were sobbing. He looked at Thalos one more time while mouthing the words 'I'm sorry', another moan manifesting in his throat. He then unexpectedly turned and exited the room, disappearing quickly from view behind a wall.

"Nassor! Wait!" Thalos called out as he began to follow. Victor grabbed the small boy's arm and walked with him in Nassor's footsteps. Victor looked into every room they crossed, expecting an ambush. None came. The others followed suit, carefully walking around the bloodied dead man on the floor. They followed the trail of black greasy stains on the floor until they found Victor and Thalos.

Both boys where standing just outside the door leading to the backyard of the house. Looking around, they could not find Nassor.

"V… Victor… where… where is a Nassor?" Toshiaki whispered, looking around nervously, suspicious of every shadow his eyes fell upon.

"He… he's gone…" Victor said as he looked towards a wooden fence that separated Nassor's yard from an alleyway. It had a few fresh black splatters on it, evidence that Nassor scaled the fence and fled down the passage. Elsa turned to Victor.

"We have to call the cops, now!" she exclaimed, her hands were shaking.

"Yea… you're right. We have to. Thalos, where is your phone?" Victor said, turning to the small shuddering youth.

"It's… this… way," he pointed.

Thalos sobbed. The poor child looked on once more in the direction his brother must have taken. He wiped a few more tears from his eyes and turned to reenter the house. The others followed him inside.

Once back in the living room, Thalos picked up an old cord phone and began to dial the number that he knew would contact the New Holland police department. They all hoped that someone would answer quickly. New Holland was a small peaceful town and on weeknights such as tonight there would only be one officer on call serving as dispatch, patrol, and responder. As he dialed the numbers, Victor stood beside Elsa. When he saw her trembling hands he placed his hand on hers in an attempt to comfort her. When Thalos punched in the final digit, he handed the phone to Toshiaki. Toshiaki put the phone to his ear.

"It's a ringing," he said as he looked at his friends.

Everyone's hearts dropped when they could hear the sound of a cellular phone ringing from within the room. Each turned their heads slowly around, their fears were fully realized. To their horror, the dead man on the floor was the one who had duty that night. The children stared at the corpse, feeling the gigantic wave of despair wash upon them.

Victor looked at Thalos.

"D… do you have any other numbers for the other police you Dad worked with?" Victor asked, trying to grasp at any possible solution.

"No… I don't know their numbers," Thalos whimpered.

Victor looked about the room, breathing rapidly as he desperately tried to devise a plan. As he tried harder and harder to come up with a solution, his thoughts became garbled and unfocused. His confusion irritated him. He ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed his skull, closing his eyes shit tightly. A tear rolled down one of his cheeks.

"I think we have to finish this on our own, guys," Bob said, his face becoming grave at the realization there would be no help for them. Victor snapped his head to look at Elsa when an idea had surfaced in his mind.

"What if we told some adults about all this! They can help us!" Victor exclaimed as he blurted out the plan.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Victor. You remember a few weeks ago how everyone panicked with the whole pet incident. Nassor needs help. I think that he's either snapped from the pressure his Dad had him under or he has become very ill. Remember how they wanted to kill Sparky when he saved me from that damn cat? They would sooner burn him at the stake than help him!" Elsa explained. Victor had wished what he was saying was false, but he knew this to be all to true.

All of them looked down. They had run into a wall at every thought in their head. There would be no help. There would be no salvation. It was many minutes before anyone even moved. Thalos his behind Toshiaki again, peeking at the ruined remains of his father as he began to sob again.

"We will have to make a a good solid plan if this isa going to end well. Nassor is a sick" Toshiaki said with great uncertainty. It was as if he were trying to convince himself of Nassor's actions. Victor shuttered a little as the evidence started to pile up in his head about what might have happened. He felt sick. He very well could have been the source of all this madness.

"Yea… it would have to be," Bob added. They began to discuss what actions would have to be taken if they were to capture their friend without harming him.

Meanwhile, a bit further down the alleyway, Nassor had finally stopped running. The black fluid continued to flow forth from his eyes, taking different paths as they ran down to his chin. He sank down to his knees, unsure of what he was turning into. He clutched his fists tightly and slammed them down on the floor as hard as he could. He wept for a short time and then fell quiet. Lightning flashed in the sky above him.

Just behind him, Edgar approached. His face was sullen and he held a large knife in his hand. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at Nassor's still form.

"Come on Nassor, we have things to do," Edgar's voice echoed against the walls of the ally.

"There's a group of kids playing a few blocks down. It might be a small birthday party. The boy with the red hat is there and a few of his friends. I think we really should bring them balloons," he droned on, voice completely cold and unmoving.

Nassor turned to look back, his white pupil-ed eyes wanly made contact with Edgar's. After a moment of silence, Nassor stood up. A few drops of his black tears fell to the floor. Edgar turned around and began to walk towards an opening between a few houses that would lead to a street. The street led to a small strip mall where a party store was located. Nassor obediently followed behind him.


End file.
